Travelmatic Adventures

The mining shaft tour

Kamativi has three major mining shafts and an open cast site.Below is the history of how it all started.

 

The first part of the tin belt to be discovered was Tshontanda, at the extreme west end of the tin belt, by W Aldworth in 1930, who at the time was carrying out exploratory drilling for coal, and instead located Wolframite. Tshontonda started production in 1933 and by the end of 1934 some £12 000 of Wolframite had been extracted. The property was subsequently sold to the Bechuanaland Exploration Company. In 1935 Aldworth discovered Kapata, from which 60 tons of Cassiterite was produced by the end of the year. Meanwhile the Bechuanaland Exploation Company prospected further to the East, and pegged properties near the Lutope River. Kamativi was discovered in 1935 by Aldworth, and in 1937, three blocks at Kalinda were pegged.

In partnership with the late Mr  Sauerman, Mr Aldworth worked alluvial and rubble, by sluicing and panning. Later a small mill was built.During the 1939-1945 war a small smelter was built at Bulawayo, and was operated for about 14 years.In 1951, Mr S Johnson pegged ground at Kalinda. During 1950 Kamativi was taken on auction by Oakes Trust. In 1951 Billiton took over control, and subsequently worked the property. ( A Dutch company, which had produced tin in Indonesia for a century.

During 1953-1954 exploration work stepped up; shafts were sunk, and development work progressed. In 1955 a pilot mill, with a capacity of 700 tons a day, came into operation, and the following year the company decided to increase the capacity to 1200 tons a day. During 1955 183 tons of tin concentrate was produced, and in 1956, 368 tons were produced. Plans were then made to increase the mill capacity to about 33000 tons a month.

Early in 1957, production was stopped, and a heavy reconstruction programme was instituted, which enabled lower grade opencast ore to be treated profitably. During 1958, 568 tons of tin concentrates were obtained, and this has increased steadily. In 1959, 640 tons of tin concentrates were produced, and in 1962, 758 tons were produced. During these years the mill capacity increased to the 1964 average output of 42000 tons a month.

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