Vanguard Asbestos Mines claims, Belingwe area, Zimbabwe

The Vanguard mine was worked by Vanguard Asbestos Mines in the Belingwe area of Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.^1,9 The U.S. Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1947 reported that "Vanguard Asbestos Mines, a new company, has acquired extensive claims in the Belingwe area," backed by "South African and Swiss capital."¹ It said the asbestos strike was reported to be "2½ miles" long and "just under one-half mile" wide, and that development work "was expected to start immediately."¹ Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, drawing on the India Rubber Journal, gave the width as "about half a mile" in 1948.²

The Minerals Yearbook for 1948, citing London's Mining Magazine, said the company "has absorbed claims previously held by the H. M. H. Syndicate" and "was making arrangements to mine a large deposit."³ The 1949 yearbook reported that "shipments were started from the new Vanguard Asbestos Mines operation at Belingwe."⁴ In 1953 the consulting mining engineer W. E. Sinclair wrote in Asbestos that the main producers in the Belingwe area "consist of the Vanguard and the Gurumba Tumba Mines."⁵ The trade journal reported in 1961 that Vanguard Asbestos Mines (Pvt.) Limited had succeeded "in placing such fibres on the world market in competition with the standard Canadian products," meaning short fibers for the plastics industries.¹⁰

By 1975, Asbestos said, a group called Asbestos Investments controlled "the Boss, Pangani, Rex and Vanguard Mines."⁶ The journal placed the mine differently in successive years: in 1977 Pangani Asbestos Mines ran "the Vanguard Mine at Clifton, Gwelo," while in 1978 Asbestos Investments owned "the Vanguard and Rex Mines at Belingwe."^7,9 The Minerals Yearbook for 1981 reports that "Amiantos of Switzerland closed, in April of 1981, its Pangani, Vanguard, and Buss Mines," and that these "no-longer-viable mines produced only 5% of Zimbabwean asbestos."⁸

The documents report this mine producing asbestos fiber for sale.⁴

Location

Year by year

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

1947

• Exploration: “the length of the asbestos strike is 2½ miles and the width just under one-half mile. Development work was expected to start immediately” (Vanguard Asbestos Mines), as reported by South African Mining and Engineering Journal, p. 8¹
• Ownership: “Vanguard Asbestos Mines, a new company, has acquired extensive claims in the Belingwe area” (Vanguard Asbestos Mines), p. 8¹
• Ownership: “South African and Swiss capital are backing this venture” (Vanguard Asbestos Mines), p. 8¹

1948

• Exploration: “total length of the strike is reported to be 2½ miles ... Development work is to start immediately” (Vanguard Asbestos Mines, Ltd.), as reported by India Rubber Journal, p. 47²
• Ownership: “a new asbestos company ... has acquired extensive claims in the Belingwe area” (Vanguard Asbestos Mines, Ltd.), as reported by India Rubber Journal, p. 47²
• Exploration: “was making arrangements to mine a large deposit” (Vanguard Asbestos Mines), as reported by Mining Magazine (London), p. 9³
• Ownership: “Vanguard Asbestos Mines, which has absorbed claims previously held by the H. M. H. Syndicate” (Vanguard Asbestos Mines), as reported by Mining Magazine (London), p. 9³

1949

• Opened: “Shipments were started from the new Vanguard Asbestos Mines operation at Belingwe” (Vanguard Asbestos Mines), as reported by South African Mining and Engineering Journal, p. 9⁴

1953

• Worked: “the main producers consist of the Vanguard”, said by W. E. Sinclair, M.I.M.M. (Consulting Mining Engineer), as reported by Asbestos (magazine), p. 12⁵

1961

• Buyers: “Vanguard Asbestos Mines (Pvt.) Limited ... has succeeded in placing such fibres on the world market in competition with the standard Canadian products” (Vanguard Asbestos Mines (Pvt.) Limited), p. 30¹⁰

1975

• Worked: “controls the Boss, Pangani, Rex and Vanguard Mines in the Bulawayo/Shabanie area” (Asbestos Investments Pty. Ltd.), p. 44⁶

1977

• Worked: “the Vanguard Mine at Clifton, Gwelo” (Pangani Asbestos Mines (Pvt) Ltd.), p. 36⁷

1978

• Ownership: “the Vanguard and Rex Mines at Belingwe” (Asbestos Investments), p. 48⁹

1981

• Output: “The no-longer-viable mines produced only 5% of Zimbabwean asbestos” (Amiantos), p. 8⁸
• Closed: “Amiantos of Switzerland closed, in April of 1981, its Vanguard ... Mines” (Amiantos), p. 8⁸

Other names

Documents call this mine “claims in the Belingwe area”, “Vanguard”.

References

1. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1947 (January 1, 1948), p. 8.
2. Asbestos Magazine, 1948, May 1948 (May 1, 1948), p. 47.
3. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1948 (January 1, 1949), p. 9.
4. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1949 (January 1, 1950), p. 9.
5. Asbestos Magazine, 1953, September 1953 (September 1, 1953), p. 12.
6. Asbestos Magazine, 1975, December 1975 (December 1, 1975), p. 44.
7. Asbestos Magazine, 1977, December 1977 (December 1, 1977), p. 36.
8. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1981 (January 1, 1982), p. 8.
9. Asbestos Magazine, 1978, December 1978 (December 1, 1978), p. 48.
10. Asbestos Magazine, 1961, November 1961 (November 1, 1961), p. 30.