Asbestos deposit, Ingenassa Hills, Sudan

The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1972 noted that a United Nations survey of "an asbestos deposit in the Ingenassa Hills has not yet been made public."³ For 1976 it reported test drilling by Johns-Manville and Gulf International (Sudan) on deposits "in the Ingessana Hills of southeastern Sudan near the crossing of the Ethiopian border by the Blue Nile," with indications "favorable for a 100,000-ton-per-year fiber plant which would cost an estimated $115 million."¹ In December 1977 Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, said that "a three-year, $3.6-million feasibility study is planned" on such a plant, under an agreement with the Sudanese government.⁴ The yearbook for 1982, drawing on Mining Magazine and the Mining Journal, gave the chrysotile deposit "an estimated 9 million tons of 3.4% or better ore," cited another article's "30 million tons of low-grade ore," and reported that Johns Manille Canada, as the yearbook spells it, "was said to be reluctant to start commercial mining there."²

The documents describe this as a deposit or prospect: they report exploration or describe the deposit, not mining for sale.⁴

Year by year

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

1972

• Exploration: “A United Nations Development Program survey of an asbestos deposit in the Ingenassa Hills has not yet been made public”, p. 10³

1976

• Mill: “favorable for a 100,000-ton-per-year fiber plant which would cost an estimated $115 million”, p. 9¹
• Exploration: “conducting a test drilling program on asbestos deposits in the Ingessana Hills” (Gulf International (Sudan); Johns-Manville Corp.), p. 9¹

1977

• Exploration: “Test drilling has been undertaken; A three-year, $3.6-million feasibility study is planned” (Johns-Manville Corporation; Gulf International Group of Kuwait; Government of the Democratic Republic of Sudan), p. 42⁴

1982

• Reserves: “30 million tons of low-grade ore occurs at this deposit”, as reported by Mining Journal, p. 7²
• Reserves: “The Ingesanna deposit of chrysotile had an estimated 9 million tons of 3.4% or better ore”, as reported by Mining Magazine, p. 7²
• Fiber: “The Ingesanna deposit of chrysotile”, as reported by Mining Magazine, p. 7²
• Description: “Johns Manille Canada, Inc., was said to be reluctant to start commercial mining there” (Johns Manille Canada, Inc.), as reported by Mining Journal, p. 7²

Other names

Documents call this mine “asbestos deposit in the Ingenassa Hills”, “asbestos deposits in the Ingessana Hills”, “Ingesanna deposit”.

See also

• Johns-Manville Corp.: the company's history, documents, people, products and plants
• All asbestos mines

References

1. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1976 (January 1, 1977), p. 9.
2. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1982 (January 1, 1983), p. 7.
3. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1972 (January 1, 1973), p. 10.
4. Asbestos Magazine, 1977, December 1977 (December 1, 1977), p. 42.