Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #mininghistory
Most recents (12)
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Mufulira Mine Disaster, #Zambia's worst ever mining disaster. On 25 September 1970, 89 miners on the night shift were entombed when vast quantities of mud and water leaked from a surface tailings dam and inundated the mine.
#mininghistory
#mininghistory
Mufulira was the world’s largest underground copper mine, but it took only 15 minutes for the entire eastern section to flood. Survivors recalled a noise like thunder, a shockwave of air through the tunnels, then the lights going out before the wet mud rushed through the tunnels.
Pictures from the aftermath give an indication of the terrible force of the mud rush that surged through the underground workings.
Thanks to @blewis2103 I have a copy of a 1972 film on the history of Kansanshi, #Zambia, featuring an interview with with 95 year-old Chief Kapijimpanga (pictured) and footage of pre-industrial smelting techniques as recalled and reconstructed by elderly locals.
#mininghistory
#mininghistory
Chief Kapijimpanga worked with the prospecting party that established a mine at Kansanshi in the 1900s and the film includes footage of the remains of that mine in the early 1970s. I think has now been obliterated by the new open pit.
If anyone would like a copy, then let me know and I will share it.
Scanning of the Mineworkers' Union of #Zambia archive is complete! We now have a digital copy of the union's archive and the physical documents have been catalogued, organised and stored in acid-free boxes.
#mininghistory
#mininghistory
Scholars in Zambia (and anyone else) can now consult the physical archive with permission of the Mineworkers' Union. The archive is stored at the union's head office: Katilungu House, Obote Avenue, Kitwe.
It will take longer for the digital copy to be made available as the scanned images now need to be checked for quality. Copies of the digital archive will be made available at the @IISG_Amsterdam and at the Mineworkers' Union offices in Kitwe.
From predominance to irrelevance - South Africa's share of world #gold production over the last 140 years.
I compiled this chart for the cancelled #ESSHC this week, which was cancelled so posting it here instead.
#mining #mininghistory
I compiled this chart for the cancelled #ESSHC this week, which was cancelled so posting it here instead.
#mining #mininghistory
South Africa's share of world gold production peaked at an estimated 68% in 1968. In 2018, it was 3%.
#mining
#mining
There are two lines on the graph because estimates for Soviet gold production are really sketchy from 1953 to 1960. South Africa's share of non-communist world gold production peaked at a remarkable 79% in 1970.
Started reading this fantastic book on the grim transport of Mozambican migrants to the mines and learnt something unexpected: Charles van Onselen worked underground in the 1960s as an onsetter (raising and lowering cages and skips in shafts).
#mininghistory
#mininghistory
I chaired a talk by van Onselen on the book earlier this year and he used this inhuman system of transportation to make an argument about moral judgement in history and the critique made of judging historical actors by contemporary standards.
He argued that we don't need to rely on present-day attitudes to show that the conditions on these trains were brutal and cruel. People in charge of the system of labour migration from Mozambique to the Rand in the early c20th knew it was morally wrong.
Fantastic trip this week to the Big Hole Mining Museum in Kimberley, site of a huge open-pit diamond mine dug following a diamond-rush that triggered industrialisation across the region. Thanks to @andycohen101 for organising the trip and the workshop.
#mininghistory
#mininghistory
There's a great museum and a reconstruction of 19th century Kimberley around the hole, but I don't think they appreciate the significance of some of the stuff in this museum.
This caught my eye. It's signals for lowering and raising the cage to different levels on a shaft. Underneath 'surface', there is a level labelled 'compound tunnel'. This was for African miners, who had to leave the mine via enclosed tunnels so were not brought up to the surface.
Following nomination from @SannaFra, here is Day 1 of "7 days 7 books' covers", but with a comment. I read this as a child, and image of a vast, hidden and abandoned world beneath our feet has stayed with me ever since. I like the cover as well.
#shareyourbooks #favouritecovers
#shareyourbooks #favouritecovers
I'm supposed to nominate someone else but I'm pretty sure everyone else did this last year.
Day 2 of "7 days 7 books' covers": Charles van Onselen, 'Studies In The Social And Economic History Of The Witwatersrand, 1886-1914: New Nineveh'.
#shareyourbooks #favouritecovers
#shareyourbooks #favouritecovers
First paper is Iva Pesa on understandings of pollution and industrial mining on the Central African Copperbelt #ASAUK18 #mininghistory #envhist
Pesa: Mine officials were fully aware of environmental destruction caused by industrial mining from the 1930s. Imperatives of production governed response to pollution in this era.
#ASAUK18 #mininghistory #envhist
#ASAUK18 #mininghistory #envhist
Pesa: When the extent of environmental damage became obvious (such as when tailings dams burst) it was assumed that technological and engineering knowledge could overcome any problems that arose.
#ASAUK18 #mininghistory #envhist
#ASAUK18 #mininghistory #envhist
More from my recent travels (which were a bit of a busman's holiday): Pilgrim's Rest, a historic gold rush town in #Mpumalanga from the 1870s. Architecture of tin buildings with wide verandas is largely unchanged as the rush quickly fizzled out.
#mininghistory
#mininghistory
The town is a bit Disneyfied, but it's still worth a visit. This is the Highwayman's Garage, opened up by a former digger who returned to the town after serving time in prison for unsuccessfully holding up a gold delivery.
Now Ofosu-Mensah Ababio Emmanuel is speaking on centuries-old techniques of gold #mining in Ghana now known artisanal mining.
Ababio Emmanuel: Artisanal gold #mining has been restricted to Ghanaians since 2006. However, the sector is largely unregulated and tens of thousands of miners have arrived from Shanglin County, Guangxi Province in China, which as a tradition of mining.
Ababio Emmanuel: Shanglin miners have introduced new technology and machinery, including excavators, crushing machines, washing plants and dredging equipment. Increasingly industrialised #mining has resulted in environmental degradation.
Final paper is from Simon Jackson and is entitled Mining History. Great to have conference presentations addressing my very specific research interests. #NaturalResources17
Jackson: mining towns across French North Africa looks more like each other than other towns in their respective hinterlands.
#NaturalResources17 #mininghistory
#NaturalResources17 #mininghistory
Jackson: Phosphate was extracted in Morocco in closed gallery mines with clear racialized divisions of labour underground.
#NaturalResources17 #mininghistory
#NaturalResources17 #mininghistory
More #mininghistory now with Eric Paglia speaking on the transition in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard from a site of industrial coal mining to a place of international scientific collaboration and knowledge production #naturalresources17
Paglia: Ny-Alesund has become an example of ‘pristine’ Arctic nature, with this replacing coal as the primary natural resource and scientific activity emerging as the defining economic activity. #naturalresources17
Fascinating paper from Paglia. Most research on what happens to mining settlements after mining ends focuses on economic decline/collapse, de-urbanisation or emergence of industrial heritage tourism. #naturalresources17 #mininghistory
