Bretby mine, Kuruman area, Cape Province

Documents in our library name Bretby mine at Kuruman area, Cape Province as an asbestos mine, run by Griqualand Exploration & Finance Company, Griqualand Exploration and Finance Co. Ltd. (Gefco), General Mining and Finance Corporation Ltd.¹ They report it working in 2 years between 1953 and 1979.^1,2 Fiber: crocidolite. Closing: “The Bretby Mine in the Northern Cape was closed due to an oversupply of low grade asbestos”³ Where the documents differ, each is shown below with its source.

The documents report this mine producing asbestos fiber for sale.³

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

• Worked: “operating at Bretby” (Griqualand Exploration & Finance Company), said by W. E. Sinclair, M.I.M.M. (Consulting Mining Engineer), as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 10¹

1979

• Workforce: “General Mining and Finance Corporation Ltd. has closed the Bretby Mine; About 10%, or 220 miners, have been laid off” (Griqualand Exploration and Finance Co. Ltd. (Gefco)), as reported by Mining Magazine; Rhodesian Chamber of Mines Journal, p. 45²
• Closed: “The Bretby Mine in the Northern Cape was closed due to an oversupply of low grade asbestos” (Griqualand Exploration and Finance Co. Ltd. (Gefco)), as reported by Mining Annual Review, p. 40³

Other names

Documents call this mine “Bretby”, “Bretby Mine”.

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1953, November 1953 (November 1, 1953), p. 10.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1979, October 1979 (October 1, 1979), p. 45.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1979, December 1979 (December 1, 1979), p. 40.