Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines, Kuruman, Cape Province

Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines worked crocidolite, blue asbestos, at several mines and a treatment plant around Kuruman in South Africa: a 1930 advertisement in Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, offered "South African blue asbestos" from Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines (Prop'y) Limited, Kuruman, "formerly owned by Gillanders & Campbell."¹ In January 1931 the journal reported, from South African newspapers, that the company "has closed down all its mines except one."² A contributor wrote in 1933 that "the mines and treatment plant of the Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines, Ltd., are at complete standstill," and that "the very complete crushing, fiberizing and grading plant at Kuruman, now unfortunately idle, was the first established."⁴ In 1938 the chairman of the Cape Asbestos Company told its annual meeting that the company's acquisitions included "the whole of the freehold and leasehold properties hitherto controlled by The Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines (Pty) Ltd."³

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.

1930

• Ownership: “Formerly owned by Gillanders & Campbell” (Gillanders & Campbell), said by The Asbestos & Electrical Fittings Co. Ltd., p. 21¹
• Worked: “South African blue asbestos, the product of Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines (Prop'y) Limited, Kuruman (formerly owned by Gillanders & Campbell)” (Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines (Prop'y) Limited), said by The Asbestos & Electrical Fittings Co. Ltd., p. 21¹
• Idle: “Dominion Blue Asbestos Company has closed down all its mines except one” (Dominion Blue Asbestos Company), as reported by South African newspapers, p. 57²

1931

• Worked: “South African blue asbestos, product of Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines (Prop'y), Kuruman”, said by Raw Asbestos Distributors Ltd., p. 35²

1933

• Idle: “Mines and treatment plant of the Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines, Ltd., at complete standstill” (Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines, Ltd.), as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 26⁴
• Mill: “The very complete crushing, fiberizing and grading plant at Kuruman, now idle, was the first established”, as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 26⁴

1937

• Ownership: “Cape Asbestos acquired the whole of the freehold and leasehold properties hitherto controlled by The Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines (Pty) Ltd.” (Cape Asbestos Company), said by Cape Asbestos Company (chairman Mr. Walker), as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 37³

Other names

Documents call this mine “Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines (Prop'y) Limited”, “Dominion Blue Asbestos Mines, Ltd.”.

See also

• Cape Asbestos Company: the company's history, documents, people, products and plants
• All asbestos mines

References

1. Asbestos Magazine, 1930, January 1930 (January 1, 1930), p. 21.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1931, January 1931 (January 1, 1931), pp. 35, 57.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1938, June 1938 (June 1, 1938), p. 37.
4. Asbestos Magazine, 1933, July 1933 (July 1, 1933), p. 26.