Thornwood mine, Gwanda area, Zimbabwe

The Thornwood mine was in the Gwanda area of Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.¹ The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1961, drawing on Mineral Trade Notes, reports that "Rand Mines, Ltd., of Johannesburg acquired the Thornwood mine in the Gwanda area, explored ore extensions, and rebuilt the mill to produce fiber grades 3 to 7."¹ In January 1967 Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, reported that "Thornwood was last worked in 1963" and that the mine was "to reopen": A. D. Theron & Sons (Pvt.) Limited "have taken the mine on tribute with the option to purchase from Rand Mines Limited."² In December 1977 the trade journal reported that A. D. Theron and Sons (Pvt) Ltd., of Gwanda, "runs the Thornwood Mine at Thornwood Block, Bulawayo."³

The documents report work here (mining, shafts or a mill) but no fiber sold or shipped; that is what our documents say, and the mine may still have sold some.¹

Location

Year by year

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

1961

• Ownership: “Rand Mines, Ltd., of Johannesburg acquired the Thornwood mine” (Rand Mines, Ltd.), as reported by Mineral Trade Notes, p. 11¹
• Mill: “rebuilt the mill to produce fiber grades 3 to 7” (Rand Mines, Ltd.), as reported by Mineral Trade Notes, p. 11¹
• Exploration: “explored ore extensions” (Rand Mines, Ltd.), as reported by Mineral Trade Notes, p. 11¹

1963

• Idle: “Thornwood was last worked in 1963” (Rand Mines Limited), p. 21²

1967

• Ownership: “have taken the mine on tribute with the option to purchase from Rand Mines Limited” (A. D. Theron & Sons (Pvt.) Limited; Rand Mines Limited), p. 21²

1977

• Worked: “runs the Thornwood Mine at Thornwood Block, Bulawayo” (A. D. Theron and Sons (Pvt) Ltd.), p. 36³

Other names

Documents call this mine “Thornwood mine”, “Thornwood Asbestos Mine”.

References

1. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1961 (January 1, 1962), p. 11.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1967, January 1967 (January 1, 1967), p. 21.
3. Asbestos Magazine, 1977, December 1977 (December 1, 1977), p. 36.