Boss mine, Mashaba, Zimbabwe

The Boss mine lay at Mashaba, in what was then Southern Rhodesia.⁵ A 1923 visitor's account in Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, called it "the Boss mine of Bells United Asbestos Company, Limited," and said "little work is being done in this mine at present."¹ In 1927 the journal listed "the Boss Mine of 180 claims in the Victoria District" under the Rhodesian Asbestos & Chrome Syndicate.² W. E. Sinclair, a consulting mining engineer, wrote in 1960 that the Schmidheiny (Swiss) group produced "12,662 tons of fibre in 1958" from the Boss and two other mines together.⁴ The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook reported a plant "to recover grade 7 fiber" under construction there in 1961.⁵ Asbestos named Asbestos Investments as controlling the mine in 1975, and Pangani Asbestos Mines as running "the Boss Mine at Tokwedale, Victoria" in 1977.^6,7

The documents report this mine producing asbestos fiber for sale.⁴

Location

Year by year

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

1923

• Idle: “Little work is being done in this mine at present” (Bells United Asbestos Company, Limited), p. 31¹
• Ownership: “the Boss mine of Bells United Asbestos Company, Limited” (Bells United Asbestos Company, Limited), p. 31¹

1927

• Ownership: “the Boss Mine of 180 claims in the Victoria District” (Rhodesian Asbestos & Chrome Syndicate), p. 46²

1953

• Worked: “The Blue Bird, Boss, Fibre Coy, and Rex Mines are among many other smaller concerns”, said by W. E. Sinclair, M.I.M.M. (Consulting Mining Engineer), as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 12³

1958

• Worked: “the Schmidheiny (Swiss Group), which produced 12,662 tons of fibre in 1958 from the ... Boss Mine” (Schmidheiny (Swiss Group)), said by W. E. Sinclair, as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 10⁴

1961

• Mill: “Plants to recover grade 7 fiber were under construction in 1961 at ... the Boss mine, Mashaba”, as reported by Mineral Trade Notes, p. 11⁵

1975

• Worked: “controls the Boss, Pangani, Rex and Vanguard Mines in the Bulawayo/Shabanie area” (Asbestos Investments Pty. Ltd.), p. 44⁶

1977

• Worked: “the Boss Mine at Tokwedale, Victoria” (Pangani Asbestos Mines (Pvt) Ltd.), p. 36⁷

Other names

Documents call this mine “Boss mine”, “Boss”.

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1923, March 1923 (March 1, 1923), p. 31.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1927, January 1927 (January 1, 1927), p. 46.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1953, September 1953 (September 1, 1953), p. 12.
4. Asbestos Magazine, 1960, April 1960 (April 1, 1960), p. 10.
5. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1961 (January 1, 1962), p. 11.
6. Asbestos Magazine, 1975, December 1975 (December 1, 1975), p. 44.
7. Asbestos Magazine, 1977, December 1977 (December 1, 1977), p. 36.