Lessons from the past
Laying the
foundations
through exploration
Geologists have
always been
at the front line
of opening the
African hinterland
for mining activity,
writes Leon Louw.
[32] MINING MIRROR APRIL 2018
O
ne of the first mining companies that
realised the value of good geologists
and the potential of the African
continent’s mineral potential, was Anglo
American. To diversify its assets in South Africa,
Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, chairperson of Anglo
American Corporation of South Africa, started
a serious exploration programme way back in
1926. It was especially the old Rhodesia that
fascinated this adventurer and entrepreneur.
Although it was any young geologist’s dream to
venture into the heart of the continent, it was a
tough job.
In the book Prospecting in Africa, Mike de
Wit writes extensively in one chapter about
that part of Anglo’s history. What follows is an
excerpt from the book.
“In 1926, Anglo appointed Joseph ( Joe)
Austen Bancroft as consulting geologist. During
the exploration phase, which started in the same
year, Anglo employed geologists on three-year
contracts. The terms of employment included
a one-year probation period and costs of the
outward journey and repatriation tickets at the
end of the contract. However, geologists were on
half pay while travelling to their destination.
“By 1931, Bancroft had 78 geologists
employed and, between 1926 and 1940, Anglo
had systematically prospected about 70% of
Northern Rhodesia (today Zambia), or just
more than 203 000 square miles for various
concession-holding companies. Each field party
consisted of two geologists and between 20
to 30 local workers, and each party was given
between 300 and 700 square miles to work
on. Communication with head office took
place once a month. Base lines were normally
cut through the bush eight or 10 miles apart,
and parallel to each other using a compass
for direction finding and a bicycle wheel
fitted with a cyclometer to measure distances.
Sampling traverses between base lines were
run perpendicular to the base lines. The two
geologists worked one-eighth of a mile apart.
“Each had a four-pound hammer, which
was used on any outcrop they saw, in order to
bring back samples. Outcrop and geomorphic
features were recorded on maps. The target was
to traverse 20 miles a day. Officially, Sundays
were rest days. Since only one working day a
month was allocated for the preparation of maps
and field reports, to work out the pay sheets for
the workers, to compile inventories for food
supplies, and to do other administrative chores,
it was often impossible to complete this work
within a day and Sundays were generally used to
catch up with office work.
“Food was generally hunted from the veld
and bathing was done in a canvas bath that
measured only two by two feet and was six
inches deep. Camp moves happened every
four or five days. There were no radios or
refrigerators, and there were no vehicles, so
everything was done on foot. Orders for
supplies were sent out by a runner who
would take the ‘shopping’ list to a base camp
near the main road. There was no such thing
as annual holidays.
“And so, the foundations were laid on which
De Beers, in the early twentieth century, evolved
from being essentially a diamond mining company,
with limited resources allocated for prospecting,
to a company, which by the second half of the
twentieth century, had acquired an unrivalled
in-house ability to successfully explore for and
develop new primary diamond deposits.” b