Mashaba mines (Gath's and King), Zimbabwe

The Mashaba mines, chiefly the King and Gath mines, worked chrysotile in the Mashaba district of Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.^2,8 The earliest word in the sources is from the U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1947, which said that the Mashaba-Rhodesian Asbestos Co. "operates the Mashaba mine."¹ By 1949 the yearbook listed "the King and Gath mines in the Mashaba district" among the mines of Rhodesian & General Asbestos Corp., "a subsidiary of Turner & Newall, Ltd.," and in 1950 it said "a smaller output" came from them than from the Shabani mines.^2,3 Turner & Newall's directors reported, as Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, printed it in 1952, that "a new milling plant at Mashaba, Southern Rhodesia, is now completed and in operation."⁵ The yearbook said crude asbestos exports in 1961 came "mostly from Turner and Newall, Ltd., mines at Shabani and Mashaba."⁷ In 1972, "undaunted by strikes early in the year," the company "spent 25 million rand replacing the mill at their King mine," according to the yearbook.¹⁰

The U.S. Geological Survey reported, citing the Mining Journal, that in 1998 African Associated Mines "planned to reduce its workforce at the Mashaba and Shabanie mines by more than 800 workers."¹¹ The Survey gives two closing dates: its 2011 report said "the mines were closed in 2008 for financial reasons," while its 2019 report spoke of "the former Mashaba Mine, which closed in 2007."^8,9 In 2011 the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp. announced plans "to reopen the Mashava and Shabanie chrysotile mines," in stages, and the Government later said it had "secured a $100 million loan" to reopen them "by yearend 2017."^8,12 Official statistics, the Survey reported, showed that "no asbestos was mined in the country during 2018."¹² In 2019 Shabanie Mashaba Mine Holdings "began producing asbestos from tailings" and was working "to dewater the mining shafts," producing "about 500 metric tons per month" as of August; at full capacity, output "was expected to be 75,000 metric tons per year."⁹

The documents report this mine producing asbestos fiber for sale.⁷

Location

Output the documents report

Figures as printed, in the units each document uses (short tons before about 1990, metric tons after, in most U.S. chapters). Some are a year's output, some a daily rate or a capacity, some a company's total rather than this mine's alone; the statement for that year below says which.

Year by year

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

1947

• Worked: “The Mashaba-Rhodesian Asbestos Co., which operates the Mashaba mine” (Mashaba-Rhodesian Asbestos Co.), p. 8¹

1949

• Worked: “the King and Gath mines in the Mashaba district” (Rhodesian & General Asbestos Corp.), p. 9²

1950

• Worked: “A smaller output is obtained from the King and Gath mines in the Mashaba district” (Rhodesian and General Asbestos Corp.), p. 9³

1951

• Worked: “operations in the Mashaba ... district” (Turner & Newall, Ltd.), p. 9⁴
• Mill: “A new milling plant at Mashaba, Southern Rhodesia, is now completed and in operation” (Turner & Newall Limited), said by Turner & Newall Limited, as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 41⁵

1952

• Worked: “and in the Mashaba ... districts” (Turner & Newall, Ltd.), p. 10⁶

1961

• Output: “Turner and Newall, Ltd., mines produced 67 percent of the tonnage” (Turner and Newall, Ltd.), p. 11⁷
• Worked: “Crude asbestos exports, mostly from Turner and Newall, Ltd., mines at ... Mashaba” (Turner and Newall, Ltd.), p. 10⁷

1972

• Idle: “strikes early in the year” (Rhodesian and General Asbestos Corp.), p. 10¹⁰
• Mill: “spent 25 million rand replacing the mill at their King mine” (Rhodesian and General Asbestos Corp.), p. 10¹⁰

1998

• Workforce: “reduce its workforce at the Mashaba and Shabanie mines by more than 800 workers” (African Associated Mines), as reported by Mining Journal, p. 2¹¹

2007

• Closed: “the former Mashaba Mine, which closed in 2007”, as reported by The Sunday Mail [Harare] (Chingwere, 2019), p. 4⁹

2008

• Idle: “The mines were closed in 2008 for financial reasons”, as reported by The Zimbabwean, 2011, p. 3⁸

2011

• Description: “ZMDC planned on reactivating the mine in stages” (Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp. (ZMDC)), as reported by The Zimbabwean, 2011, p. 3⁸
• Fiber: “Mashava and Shabanie chrysotile mines”, as reported by The Zimbabwean, 2011, p. 3⁸
• Description: “planned to reopen the Mashava and Shabanie chrysotile mines” (Zimbabwe Mining Development Corp. (ZMDC)), as reported by The Zimbabwean, 2011, p. 3⁸

2017

• Description: “secured a $100 million loan to reopen the Mashava and Shabanie Mines in southern Zimbabwe by yearend 2017” (Government of Zimbabwe), as reported by African Independent (Bara, 2017), p. 4¹²

2018

• Idle: “no asbestos was mined in the country during 2018”, as reported by Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, 2019, p. 4¹²

2019

• Worked: “Shabanie Mashaba Mine Holdings began producing asbestos from tailings” (Shabanie Mashaba Mine Holdings), as reported by The Sunday Mail [Harare] (Chingwere, 2019), p. 4⁹
• Output: “At full capacity, output from the mine was expected to be 75,000 metric tons per year” (Shabanie Mashaba Mine Holdings), as reported by The Sunday Mail [Harare] (Chingwere, 2019), p. 4⁹
• Exploration: “working to dewater the mining shafts and procure equipment to restart underground production” (Shabanie Mashaba Mine Holdings), as reported by The Sunday Mail [Harare] (Chingwere, 2019), p. 4⁹
• Output: “producing about 500 metric tons per month of asbestos” (Shabanie Mashaba Mine Holdings), as reported by The Sunday Mail [Harare] (Chingwere, 2019), p. 4⁹

Other names

Documents call this mine “Mashaba mine”, “King mine”, “Gath mine”, “Turner and Newall, Ltd., mines at ... Mashaba”, “Mashava”, “Mashaba Mine”.

See also

• Mashaba Mine in the Lexicon
• Turner and Newall, Ltd.: the company's history, documents, people, products and plants
• All asbestos mines

References

1. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1947 (January 1, 1948), p. 8.
2. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1949 (January 1, 1950), p. 9.
3. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1950 (January 1, 1951), p. 9.
4. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1951 (January 1, 1952), p. 9.
5. Asbestos Magazine, 1952, February 1952 (February 1, 1952), p. 41.
6. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1952 (January 1, 1953), p. 10.
7. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1962 (January 1, 1963), pp. 10–11.
8. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 2011 (January 1, 2012), p. 3.
9. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 2019 (January 1, 2020), p. 4.
10. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1972 (January 1, 1973), p. 10.
11. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1998 (January 1, 1999), p. 2.
12. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 2018 (January 1, 2019), p. 4.