Koegas mine

British workers making asbestos "mattresses" in 1914

The mine was opened by the Cape Asbestos Company Limited in 1893. The company had been incorporated in England that same year.[9] By 1898 it was only a small-scale operation, producing some 100 tonnes (100 long tons) of asbestos per month from surface deposits or shallow hillside adits. The cost of extraction was around $24 per long ton. Cape initially found it difficult to break into the market, which was dominated by Canadian white asbestos. It made a loss of £3,808 on sales of £9,000 in 1898. Sales rose to £15,000 in 1899 and £15,550 in 1900 but it continued to lose money, with Cape estimating that it required annual sales of £25,000 to break even.[8] The company scaled back operations in 1902, during which it made sales of just £1,600, and it mined nothing at all in 1903. The company resumed mining in 1907 and the following year reported a profit of £6,900. By 1908 it was selling its product for between $140 and $310 per ton, largely as "mattresses" and other boiler insulation.[10] Demand for the mine's products grew because of the First World War (1914-18).[11]

The workings grew into the largest blue asbestos mine in the world.[12] The main office was site north of Orange River, with a mill and social club to the south of it.[3] The company later expanded to operate a factory to manufacture asbestos-containing products at Benoni, near Johannesburg, as well as in Italy and the United Kingdom.[9] In 1925 it purchased an asbestos mine at Penge, Limpopo.[9] Demand for asbestos products crashed during the Great Depression, which began in 1929.[11]

Mining at Koegas was carried out by drilling and blasting. Initially all drilling was carried out manually, without compressed air drills or jackhammers, and by candlelight. In such conditions it could take a miner an entire day to drill a 30 centimetres (12 in) hole. Pneumatic tools were later introduced. Asbestos and waste rock was removed manually by picks and shovels, though later conveyor belts were installed.[13] Many of the miners came from Griquatown and were mainly black or Coloured.[12][14] All of the underground workforce were male, though women and children were employed to break up the asbestos into its fibres by hand and to sort them into different grades.[12][13]

The Second World War (1939-45) saw a sharp recovery in demand for asbestos and mine production increased.[11] A government mine inspector in 1941 reported poor worker living conditions at Koegas. No housing was provided by Cape for the workforce, with the exception of a small number of supervisors. The workers lived in self-built shanty housing near to the mine workings. The company provided no food to its workers, who had to purchase it from a company store. The inspector also judged the medical provision was poor, with only a 2/3-bed clinic provided by Cape. There was no capability to carry out any surgical work or care for serious cases; a nursing home in Prieska admitted only European persons.[1]

By 1947 Cape officially reported that 480 men and 69 women worked at the mine, it did not count children. It is thought these numbers were under-reported and, in particular, that significantly more women were employed. These were required to prepare the mined asbestos for milling by breaking apart the fibres in a process known as "cobbing".[15] An inspection later in that year found no washing or sanitation provision at the mine workings. When challenged the mine directors stated they were unwilling to make improvements as they judged that only 10 years of deposits remained at the site.[1]

In 1948 the mine and mill were transferred by Cape to a South African-registered subsidiary, Cape Blue Mines (Pty.) Limited. This company and Cape's other South African interests were owned by a holding company, Cape Asbestos South Africa (Pty.) Limited (CASAP).[9]

After the war a world-wide economic boom saw demand for asbestos peak.[11] Production at the site peaked in 1953, at which point some 5,000 miners worked at Koegas.[12] In 1950 the mine started to extract from asbestos seams below the water table. These deposits, in the so-called "fresh zone", were unweathered and higher in quality.[4] In response to government workplace legislation Cape sought permission to continue to employ children as young as 13 at Koegas. They argued that the work of sorting fibre, carried out by children on a wage of £2.85 a month, was uneconomical if men were required to be employed.[1] A Cape advertisement of 1953 claimed the Koegas mine was a self-sufficient community with its own power station, farm, social club and swimming pool.[16]

In September 1955 Cape employed 2,000 workers at Koegas, significant proportions of whom were from Botswana, Zimbabwe and Malawi. A further inspection in this year found living conditions for workers were still poor. The South African Director of Native Labour required that Cape remove excess families from the site. Cape agreed with this and committed to construct housing for 1,632 single workers and 202 married couples. The Director of Native Labour gave cape 6 months to make improvements.[17] Cape did not proceed with the improvements and, when challenged, threatened to close the mine.[16]

Cape claimed to have ceased cobbing by hand, with machines being used instead from the early 1950s. However a visitor to Koegas in 1956 noted women still being employed in this work.[16]

The South African Pneumoconiosis Research Unit issued a report in 1962 that noted high levels of mesothelioma in Prieska but this was suppressed by the asbestos industry.[1] A sorting plant was built at the site in 1963, where women and children separated the longer asbestos fibres, which were ten times more valuable by weight than the shorter fibres.[18] The mine was also affected by scurvy and tuberculosis epidemics. Those who became ill, possibly including asbestosis sufferers, remained on the site and many died. Cape relocated widows to Marydale during the 1960s, to a settlement that became known as "the lung location" for the medical conditions of the inhabitants.[19]

Women continued to be employed to sort asbestos by hand at Koegas until the early 1970s, as recorded by the company's applications for exemptions under the 1956 Mines and Works Act No. 27.[16][20] The site continued to be productive and by 1977 South Africa was the world's third-largest supplier of asbestos, extracting 390,000 tonnes (380,000 long tons) that year.[13] Amid growing concern over safety in the wider world Cape sold the mine and mill (which were closed shortly afterwards) in 1979, though it retained an interest in the Benoni factory until 1989.[9] After the mine's closure many former workers moved to Prieska or Griquatown.[13] The mine and mill were Prieska's main employers and their closure were economically devastating. In 1980 unemployment in the town ran at 30% and by 2000 stood at nearly 60%.[1][11]

From 1985 Prieska was declared a dust control town which required the asbestos waste piles to be covered with soil.[13] Clean-up of the Koegas site was begun by the South African government in 2007; the tailings have now been sown with grass and fenced off and the most easily-accessible asbestos has been removed.[13][1] The mine site is now considered a ghost town.[12]