At least 26 mines …
GEOLOGY……
Spektakel
COPPER MINES .....
Narrap mine steam engine
Concordia mine dump
The Okiep Copper district “Firsts”
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First economic deposit “discovered” by Europeans in South Africa in1685
(First European settlement in 1652 – hence copper “discovered” only 33
years later)
First mine opened by Europeans in South Africa
First South African mining company formed in1852
First South African geological report written on the copper deposits
First South African geological map in South Africa – the Namaqualand
copper fields.
Copper from
Spektakel mine
Discovery site: Sketch from
van der Stel’s expedition notes
Discovery site Aug 2011
Concordia:
National Monument
Springbok
The
August 2011
Okiep Copper district “Firsts”
Blue Mine
Blue Mine Plaque
One of the first South African share certificates (1854)
Andrew Geddes Bain:
Geologist and Road Maker
*****
First Geological Report
Written in South Africa
(1859)
(1856)
Charles Bell
Surveyor General:
Cape Colony
1848 to 1872
Surveyor, artist, designer, businessman
Okiep August 2011
Okiep 1899 - 1902
Nababeep mine, August 2011
Nababeep mine chalcanthite
Jubilee mine, collected 1993
Tweefontein (left 2011; below 1993)
Jan Coetzee mine (2011)
The Jan Coetzee mine
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Located 11 km north of Nababeep
First worked in 1888 (Cape Copper Company), abandoned 1907
• (several prospecting pits an 80-m deep shaft)
Reopened in 1964 by the O’Kiep Copper Company and finally closed in 1971
1966 spectacular quartz crystal “cave” opened - 12 X 12 metres across and 6 metres
high
Floor, walls and roof covered by thousands of crystals and thousands lying loose on
the floor
Estimated at several tons of quartz, ~ 50,000 specimens!!
Largest almost 2m long (185 cm) and weighed 250kg.
Some Okiep minerals
( a rich mineralogical heritage)
Ferroaxinite
Chalcocite
Gypsum
Calcite
Calcite
Chalcopyrite
Quartz
Jan Coetzee Mine 1968
Jan Coetzee mine 1994
Jan Coetzee mine 2011
Nababeep mine smelter chimney, August 2011
Nababeep ...
Nababeep Mining Museum
Karin Janecke - Curator
Thank you!