Birthday mine, Zimbabwe

In a 1923 article in Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, A. G. Pryce-Williams wrote that when the Shabanie fields of Rhodesia "sprung into prominence" around 1915, "the first to produce being Oudeville and Moore on the Birthday."⁴ In 1920 the journal placed "the Birthday claims (Willoughby's)" between the Shebania mine at the northwest end of the Bulawayo district's productive area and the Nil Desperandum at the south end.² An unsigned 1923 article, for which the journal took no responsibility, put "the Birthday (Willoughbys Consolidated) in the center" of a fibre-bearing body "about two and a half miles long by four hundred feet wide."⁴

In December 1921 Asbestos reprinted, from the South African Mining and Engineering Journal, an announcement by the Willoughby's Consolidated Company about "the Birthday Asbestos Mine, in which it has a 40 per cent interest"; the item added that the Chicago-Gaika Company "also owns a 40 per cent interest," while "the remaining 20 per cent is held by the Surprise Gold Mining Company."³ The unsigned 1923 article said that "the Birthday mine is owned by Willoughbys Consolidated," and judged it "not as good a mine as either the Shebanie or the Nil, producing only No. 2 and No. 3, altho the quality of the fibre is excellent."⁴ A 1942 article in the journal said that the Rhodesian and General Asbestos Corporation, which took over the Nil Desperandum in 1919, "subsequently worked" Birthday, Goosha and Orphan's Luck.¹

The 1921 announcement said that Willoughby's Asbestos Pool, "taking advantage of the slump in the asbestos market," would "cease producing from its Birthday mine for six months in order to bring the plant up to date, install grading machinery, and further develop the mine."³ In August 1928, citing the Rhodesia Herald, Asbestos reported that "the new plant on the Birthday mine is almost completed, and will be driven electrically from the Shabanie Mine."⁵ In 1934 it quoted the Rhodesian Mining Journal: "The erection of the additional plant, required to increase the output of asbestos from the Shabani and Birthday properties, has been completed."⁷ A 1931 advertisement by Raw Asbestos Distributors offered "Rhodesian white asbestos" from mines including the Birthday, and the U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1941 wrote that another producer's chrysotile output "is supplemented by that of the Birthday, Nil Desperandum, Pangani, and Croft mines."^6,8

The documents report this mine producing asbestos fiber for sale.⁸

Location

Year by year

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

1915

• Opened: “the first to produce being Oudeville and Moore on the Birthday” (Oudeville and Moore), said by A. G. Pryce-Williams, B. Sc., as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 14⁴

1919

• Worked: “Birthday claims subsequently worked by the Rhodesian and General Asbestos Corporation” (Rhodesian and General Asbestos Corporation, Ltd.), p. 6¹

1920

• Ownership: “the Birthday claims (Willoughby's)” (Willoughby's), p. 46²

1921

• Idle: “to cease producing from its Birthday mine for six months” (Willoughby's Asbestos Pool), said by Willoughby's Consolidated Company, as reported by South African Mining and Engineering Journal, reprinted in Asbestos (magazine), p. 59³
• Ownership: “in which it has a 40 per cent interest” (Willoughby's Consolidated Company), said by Willoughby's Consolidated Company, as reported by South African Mining and Engineering Journal, reprinted in Asbestos (magazine), p. 59³
• Mill: “to bring the plant up to date, install grading machinery” (Willoughby's Asbestos Pool), said by Willoughby's Consolidated Company, as reported by South African Mining and Engineering Journal, reprinted in Asbestos (magazine), p. 59³
• Ownership: “Chicago-Gaika Company also owns a 40 per cent interest ... 20 per cent is held by the Surprise Gold Mining Company” (Chicago-Gaika Company; Surprise Gold Mining Company), as reported by South African Mining and Engineering Journal (as reported), p. 59³

1923

• Worked: “the Birthday (Willoughbys Consolidated) in the center” (Willoughbys Consolidated), p. 20⁴
• Ownership: “The Birthday mine is owned by Willoughbys Consolidated” (Willoughbys Consolidated), p. 31⁴

1928

• Mill: “The new plant on the Birthday mine is almost completed”, as reported by Rhodesia Herald (as reported), p. 48⁵

1931

• Worked: “Rhodesian white asbestos, product of the "BIRTHDAY" mine”, said by Raw Asbestos Distributors Ltd., p. 35⁶

1934

• Mill: “Erection of additional plant to increase output from the Shabani and Birthday properties completed”, as reported by Rhodesian Mining Journal, p. 35⁷

1941

• Worked: “Its output of chrysotile is supplemented by that of the Birthday ... mines”, p. 10⁸

Other names

Documents call this mine “Birthday”, “Birthday mine”, “Birthday claims”.

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1942, July 1942 (July 1, 1942), p. 6.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1920, December 1920 (December 1, 1920), p. 46.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1921, December 1921 (December 1, 1921), p. 59.
4. Asbestos Magazine, 1923, March 1923 (March 1, 1923), pp. 14, 20, 31.
5. Asbestos Magazine, 1928, August 1928 (August 1, 1928), p. 48.
6. Asbestos Magazine, 1931, January 1931 (January 1, 1931), p. 35.
7. Asbestos Magazine, 1934, December 1934 (December 1, 1934), p. 35.
8. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1941 (January 1, 1942), p. 10.