Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos mine, South Africa

In December 1953 the consulting mining engineer W. E. Sinclair, writing in Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, called the Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos Company "a new development," operating "northeast of Barberton at Malelane" in South Africa.³ A 1959 history of South African chrysotile in the same journal counted Barberton Chrysotile among the deposits in the Barberton area "that have since developed into producing mines."¹ The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1960 reported that the company "drew from the large accumulation of broken ore in the mine, increasing its milling rate and lowering costs," and that the broken ore remaining "was estimated to be 700,000 tons."⁴ The yearbook for 1962 named Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos Ltd. among the "other important producers."²

The documents report this mine producing asbestos fiber for sale.²

Location

Year by year

Every statement about this mine in the documents, in each document's own words, by the year it is about.

1953

• Opened: “A new development is the Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos Company operating northeast of Barberton at Malelane” (Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos Company), said by W. E. Sinclair, M.I.M.M. (Consulting Mining Engineer), as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 12³

1959

• Worked: “Other deposits that have since developed into producing mines in the Barberton area are ... Barberton Chrysotile”, p. 8¹

1960

• Reserves: “The tonnage of broken ore remaining was estimated to be 700,000 tons” (Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos, Ltd.), p. 10⁴
• Mill: “drew from the large accumulation of broken ore in the mine, increasing its milling rate” (Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos, Ltd.), p. 9⁴

1962

• Worked: “Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos Ltd. ... were other important producers” (Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos Ltd.), p. 11²

Other names

Documents call this mine “Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos, Ltd. mine”, “Barberton Chrysotile Asbestos Company at Malelane”.

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1959, August 1959 (August 1, 1959), p. 8.
2. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1962 (January 1, 1963), p. 11.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1953, December 1953 (December 1, 1953), p. 12.
4. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1960 (January 1, 1961), pp. 9–10.