Lessons from the past
Building an
exploration
culture
Gold and diamonds formed the bedrock on
which the culture of exploration in southern
African was built.
G
old, found north of the Limpopo, had
for centuries been exported through
the eastern ports of Africa, first by
the Arab traders and later by the Portuguese,
until the Matabele drove them from the area.
According to a chapter written by Mike de
Wit in the book Prospecting in Africa, which
was published by De Beers in 2011, hundreds
of old mine workings for gold and some for
copper and iron existed in areas north of the
Limpopo River. These occurrences attracted
many adventurers and explorers, such as
elephant hunter Henry Hartley, geologist
Karl Mauch, and explorer and artist Thomas
Baines. They entered from the south and
moved northwards into the areas referred to as
Bechuanaland and Rhodesia.
An excerpt from the book follows:
“Baines represented the South African Gold Fields
Exploration Company and pegged the first gold
claims in Mashonaland in 1869 with the blessing
of Lobengula, the king of the Ndebele (Matabele).
In 1887, Lobengula gave the Tati Concession
on the north-eastern boundary of Bechuanaland
to the Tati Concession Mining and Exploration
Company.
“Diamonds were discovered in Griqualand
West, South Africa, in 1869 and, in 1871, Cecil
John Rhodes, then 18 years old, gave up farming
in Natal and, determined to make his fortune
from diamonds, made his way to the so-called
‘dry diamond diggings’, which in 1873 became
proclaimed as the town of Kimberley. He started
amalgamating the many individual claims over
the new diamond fields with the help of Albert
Beit. In 1888, after the final amalgamation of rival
Barney Barnato’s interests, Rhodes took control
of the Kimberley diamond mines and founded
[30] MINING MIRROR MAY 2018
De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited, the name
of which was taken from the De Beers brothers
who were owners of the farm Vooruitzicht on
which the Colesberg Kopje discovery, now known
as the Kimberley Mine, was made. Two years
earlier, in 1886, gold had been discovered on the
Witwatersrand, and Rhodes was instrumental
in setting up the Consolidated Gold Fields of
South Africa in 1887. With the newly created and
powerful companies, he pursued his ambitions to
expand the British influence northwards as quickly
as possible. The third major company Rhodes
created was the British South Africa Company
(BSAC) in 1889, initially not for the purpose of
generating cash flow, but rather to facilitate his
expansionary vision.
As part of this vision, Charles D Rudd,
representing Rhodes, secured the Rudd Concession
by obtaining exclusive access in 1888 to all metals
and minerals in Lobengula’s kingdom north of
the Limpopo River and the right to mine these.
In 1889, Lord Gifford, Edmund Davis and
George Cawston had formed the Bechuanaland
Exploration Company Limited to explore for
minerals in a concession in Bechuanaland granted
to them by Khama III, the paramount chief of the
Bamangwato. In 1889, despite their rivalry, Rhodes,
Rudd and Beit, representing the Consolidated
Gold Fields, and Lord Gifford on behalf of the
Bechuanaland Exploration Company, jointly
applied through the Colonial Offices in London
for a royal charter to develop a mining industry up
to the Zambezi River.
From “Laying the foundation for an exploration culture” by Mike de
Wit, published in the book Prospecting in Africa: Narratives by early
De Beers explorers in search for diamonds. The book was edited by
M.C.J. de Wit, E.O. Köstlin and R.S. Liddle. The book was published
by De Beers. The above article was edited by Leon Louw.