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Dawie - Congratulations on reaching the Millennium Milestone along the Great North Road ! Arthur Northerners ! More contributions from the growing number of GNR members. Best of all this month and first in the queue is another brilliant photo from Mike Wilson taken from the top of the CPC tower - this time a photo of the only CENTRE OF THE UNIVERSE - well for me at least. This shot overlooks Central Street and I can actually see the roof of my old house where I lived around the mid 1950's, second from the end. The Kafue is just visible and in the larger photo Mike sent me I can see the Kitwe Stream and location of the bridge over it as Central Street ends. The spot I learned all about fishing, Brenda Bleksley's house, the bush I explored with my pals. This was as far EAST as you could get in Nkana at that time, and the best place to be. The photo must have been taken some time after we left here for Riverside as the trees and bush are well thinned out in the photo. This was my home playground, a place etched into my memory for as long as I live. Thanks Mike you are a star ! Arthur Hi again Arthur, Here's the second shot from the CPC mast. The hardest job was getting the camera and tripod up the mast. Mike Wilson Hi Arthur: In reply to Marge and Steve de Lange's posting,and excellent photos from the 60s, I hereby enclose further recent (April 2000) photos of Mindola Dam, picnic/braai area, and a couple of the Bird Sanctuary and Dambo. Some photos for possible publication on the GNR website - all of Zambian or possible Congolese art: Three paintings: An old one in oils on canvas by Tshisanda - we bought it about 38 years ago in Chingola, but I think it is of Katanga origin Two more recent ones by Malunga - one char, the other watercolour bought in April 2000 outside Nchanga hotel, Three beaten copper plaques of a hunter, a woman and a smaller image of a huntsman - also about 38 years old. Other people must have even better examples of Zambian/Rhodesian art as treasured souvenirs - let's see some more photos in this vein. Bob Allan Melbourne Arthur please put these on for me while they are topical, thanks pal.Johnny. Here is the proof that you wanted Tina, as you can see they are exhausted from a heavy session this weekend in the village hall of the mining village of Wombwell, I deliberatley averted the camera lens as you can imagine from the rear of these pussies as it is not a pleasant sight to see, Imagine what your bottom would look like if it had been strummed on with a very rough tongue and two very tight Banjo strings for about 16 hours this weekend, hope this satisfies your curiosity Tina, and dont believe that Codswallop that little girl from Australia sent in about camera's. Regards Johnny. Johnny - As you know I will only post up stuff related to the homeland, be it people, places, animals, sunsets or whatever, so this one nearly went in the bin. However, I seemed to recognise something familiar in the shot and then I remembered, my Davy Crockett hat I had to make myself when my mum wouldn't buy me one from the OK Bazaars because they were too expensive. I was pretty good with a .22 airgun and the metal corrugated roof of our house was a good place to dry out the skin. It was the best one in the street and only had one extra hole in it. If they ever come back into fashion I think I will have no shortage of material round here - not sure how I'd dry them out though. So your hat just made the Message Board. - Arthur Arthur, I wonder if anyone remembers Andrew Hayward who ran a photography business in Kitwe. He gave me this knife when he sold me my first Pentax SLR, and got me started in a lifelong hobby. Dave Hounsell Thought somebody might like to see these old photos Mufulira guest house circa 1940's Hotel Mufulira circa 1940's Flying Club Mufulira Tenders for Sunderland flying boats on the Zambezi Barry Morton Arthur, herewith a photo you may not have. Anglican Cathedral taken around 1995 Regards Alister Watson Lusaka 1950-2001 Dear Arthur, I have just realised that I never responded to your e-mail. Here are three pictures of Livingstone in 1973. You'll recognise the main thorougfare and the Zambezi River. Cheers for now, Chisanga Hi Arthur My Dad once a year would take his students into the Northern Rhodesian country side for six weeks to carry out hands on survey work in the field. Sometimes a Farmer would pay a small fee to have his farm surveyed, where each field was laid out including gates and corner posts. Fields were all shapes and sizes to take in account the terrain and dry water beds and other potential hazards. This would all be incorporated into lessons as a challenge for the budding students to resolve. The Field trips were during the winter months so it must be February/March for I recall steaming breaths some mornings when we got up. Before starting schooling we would as a family spend the whole time at camp and once I started my school days it was only during the school holiday period that we would join Dad in the field for a two to three week period. The camps were always very comfortable where there was no electricity. The only concession being a blue 'saucepan radio' hooked up to a largish battery for news broadcasts and evening background. I recall listening to Superman, up, up and away also Dick Tracey. Cooking was fuelled on a log fire or primus stove with lights being a 'Tilley Lamp' and hurricane lamps all fuelled with paraffin. I am told when I was two that one morning Mom pulled back the blanket to get me up and curled up under the blanket with me was a snake. With the nights being chilly the snake must have thought it had discovered a lovely warm spot! At a different camp, my sister and I were woken up in the middle of the night by the folks where we and our beds were covered in red ants. I recall standing to one side whilst our pyjamas were quickly removed and ants being brushed off with bare hands. The ants did not bite us for some reason but it put paid to the rest of the night. There were thousand upon thousands, a dark river meandering from out of the darkness, through the tent and on to the darkness on the other side. Sunrise next morning there was no sign of a red ant, only the ones stepped upon during the night. The black and white picture is of me, up a tree, wearing my Broken Hill School uniform. The other picture is of an oil painting that my mother did and I imagine that the black and white picture gave her part of the camp scene. When my parents immigrated to England Mum as a hobby took up oil painting and went to night school for a year or so. Sadly Mum developed breast cancer and she undertook to create a Rhodesian painting, one for each of here six children before succumbing 1985. This is my painting of the bush camps that I loved as a youngster. Mum loved her country, Southern Rhodesia, with so much passion and was very taken with trees and flowers. For me it captures the Northern Rhodesia as I grew up in and the full wild beauty of it all. I attach and if you feel the picture suitable then would share this with the Northerners. Bob Eglington Dear GNR Friends I wanted to get this off before more time passes. We have alluded to our recent "Irishness" around St. Paddy's Day on the GNR. Here is some pictorial evidence of what the Magee family has been getting up to. Firstly ignore the printed dates on the picture. I must redo or remove the date settings. The pictures with the dog and lots of curtains are setting up at Dallas Irish Fest 2003 where we help run the wolfhound booth. The boy is my 17 year old Chris, all 6 ft. 5" of him. The dog is our rescued Irish Wolfhound/Great Dane cross, Cozy. Doesn't she have the best grin? The more eagle-eyed among you may notice that I am wearing a Welsh dragon. This is because it was St. Daffyd's day, look you, and we wanted to be fair. Anno Domini none of us can do much about but a good sense of humour helps! We have a great bit of craic every Sunday afternoon. I play celtic music informally with a gaggle of amateur musicians. My part is vocals and guitar back up. The guitar back up is simple but still like being part of weaving a carpet, divising the best background shades for the main colors and type of each individual work. This year this all turned into a last minute gig on the Jameson's Whiskey Float in the Dallas parade. Chris and Cozy came too. My dear husband Ted gets around as much as he can but he sustained a major back injury so you will only see him in a few of the capers depicted here. He is in the third picture down in "irishness-c.jpg". He is reading quietly at the far end of the picture in a grey T-shirt with a splash of red on it. Anyway, I hope you find this enjoyable. Here's to your health, happiness and good fortune and I hope it will not be too long until we all meet / meet again. Tina Magee (née Wallace) Here is some more from Hartley Heaton's Lusaka Golden Jubilee 1963 brochure. A page about the Statue of Physical Liberty Some advertisements from the booklet which may bring back a memory or two. Dave Gray Thanks for your posting on the Astra bioscope in Kitwe, do you know that date it opened? I also remember the Saturday matinees which were great, you always wanted to go back the next week to see how the hero of the day got out of predicament at the end of every episode. I missed the one where he was tied down to a conveyor belt on his way to a large timber saw. Here's a scan from an April 1959 Rhokana Review detailing "what's on" that month at the Astra and the Rhokana bioscopes. (Guy Hobbs - I have only six more mags left to scan from the two volumes - I will e-mail you shortly) Mike Wilson sent me the negative of the last Astra photo and as Mike pointed out there is a quite a bit more of the Nkana Hotel car park showing on it. When I have a moment more I will see what I can do with the photo. To those of you waiting for a response - I hope to start on my e-mail backlog tomorrow - but please don't hold your breath, I also have a few message board messages that need a reply and I haven't forgotten. Thanks to all for the usual brilliant contributions. CJ - Wot another black hole ! Ha..Ha.. Happy Birthday ! Will you be at the Livingstone Lark ? Arthur Arthur Steevens — Click here to contact me Stockport, United Kingdom Sunday, April 20, 2003 at 00:28:47 (UTC)

NORTHERNERS Some photos of my trip to the Western Province: It's a long straight road that goes on and on, past the satellite station at Mwambeshi First stop was at Mukambi Lodge, just outside the Kafue Game Park, but on the banks of Arthur's beloved Kafue River Next morning it was back on the road towards Mongu, over the Kafue Hook Bridge and past a Tsetse control After arriving in Mongu, there was a mad dash to organise boats for the next day. Down at the harbour we found that the Royal Canoeing regatta from Lealui to Mongu Harbour had been completed and the paddlers were being entertained: Then it was back to the guesthouse where we were staying to relax with a cold drink and look out over the Barotse Plains Next morning, despite being assured that it never rains on Kuomboka day, was overcast and wet. But we were up before sunrise and set off for the harbour just as the sun was coming up, past the Town Council buildings and past the office of the Permanent Secretary for Western Province By the time we came over the hill to turn left to the harbour, the sun was fully up and we had some more spectacular views of the plains, the road leading down to the harbour, the road which is being built to Kalabo (work has only just started) and a had a chance to look around the harbour Eventually we were on our way - the ninety minute trip through the channels to Lealui, with its varied birdlife; past fishing villages, some still in use, some not; some with animals; past vessels of all different shapes and sizes; and past a communications centre Finally we reached Lealui which was a hive of activity, with people of all different ages, shapes, sizes and colours; and a postman who had lost his way. There was music and dancing, people preparing the Nalikwanda and loading it with the Litunga's property which must be carried with two hands the Maoma Drums and other musical instruments. Then the paddles arrive and are given to each of the paddlers. Finally, the Litunga makes his way down to the Nalikwanda and they were on their way. For us, it was time to get back to Mongu. Although how some of the boats made it, I'm not sure but it seems that they did, But for many, life went on as usual That afternoon, a drive around Mongu: and here I must apologise to Johnny - I seem to have mislaid the disk that contains the photos of Mongu Hotel. As soon as it turns up, I'll post the photo. We also took a drive around Limulunga where we saw what could be seen of the Litunga's palace there and this old church Later in the afternoon, it was time to go to Limulunga again to witness the arrival of the Litunga. But I must admit that rather than face the crowds, we headed down a bush path and kept well away from other people which meant that we didn't see the Litunga emerging from the Nalikwanda. We did get a good view of the Notila, the Matende and the Ntamikwa, the surveillance canoe paddled by the Litunga's mabuto (bodyguards), more of the Nalikwanda, the disruption to the proceedings when they struggled to break the small walls which are built when the water is low and they need to ensure there is enough water to carry the Nalikwanda forward and a very enthusiastic gentleman who tried, singlehandedly, to push the Nalikwanda through the gap Then it was back to the guesthouse to relax with a cold drink as the sun went down over the Barotse Plains (sorry Arthur but it's definitely not Kenyan - there are no thorn trees or giraffes and I've finally worked out how to use that spirit level) Next morning, it was off to Senanga, and some views that Johnny Green will definitely recognise: Senanga Safari Lodge, the Police Station, the Prison and Reformatory, and some that he probably won't recognise. Some proof that agriculture does exist, even if things are a bit misshapen, proof that the transport industry is flourishing and the ass of Senanga We did not forget the Zambezi River and the Barotse Plains Monday morning was time to head off to Namushakende for some photos which Ian Singer will recognise: the Police Station, the Post Office, the house at the Mission and a transporter going about his work Then it was on to Sefula, with its church, the house where Francois Coillard lived, the old school building and a rock presented to the Mission in 1935 by the Lozi people to thank Lewanika for allowing Francois Coillard to establish the Mission there and to Francois Coillard for establishing the mission in 1885 After Sefula, it was back up to Mongu again, but time was getting on and we still had a long way to go, so very quick glimpses of: Mongu Prison, still very much in use and the Barotse National School, also still very much in use and a last glimpse of the floodplains. Then we were on the long road home with a short stop at a fishing village on one of the dambos where they were using a variety of methods: a net of sticks built across the dambo and rod and line although they had given up on the traditional fishing basket. As always, when travelling in Zambia, people are keen to pose for a photograph, although the subject of this one didn't have a chance to see what he looked like when we took a quick look at it. It did however amuse the rest of the people in the village. After a quick stop at the Kafue Hook Bridge for a police block, we made it back to Mukambi Lodge and the Kafue River just as the sun was going down. The next day when we reached this spot on the road, we knew we weren't far from Lusaka. Heather Chalcraft (née Bender) — Click here to contact me Lusaka, Zambia Sunday, April 13, 2003 at 11:38:05 (UTC)

Mufulira An essay donated to the GNR by Bridget Billany, written in the mid-seventies as part of her HND. Plant area of Mufulira Mine at night. An aerial view of the town of Mufulira with the mine in the background. INTRODUCTION Mufulira is situated in the Copperbelt of Zambia, and it is the largest underground copper mine in Africa. The Copperbelt is the most concentrated copper-producing area in the world, although fifty years ago it was wild and trackless. Now in an area thirty miles wide and seventy miles long there are eight producing mines, namely Mufulira, Rokana, Chingola, Bwana Mkubwa, Chambishi, Chibuluma, Konkola and Luanshya. Mufulira has a population of 156,000 and is the fourth largest town in Zambia. The majority of the population is involved in the mining industry and the rest are concerned with trading, community services or smaller independent industries such as milling, engineering, timber and cement. However, although Mufulira is a thriving town with many shops and industries, none of these would have developed had it not been for the mine. Mufulira is her mine. It was the copper, which attracted people to settle down and set up business, and it is the copper, which keeps them there. The mine is owned partly by the Zambian Government and partly by Roan Consolidated Copper Mines (RCM). As most of the population work on the mine RCM provides houses for its employees. They range from average two bedroom houses set in half an acre to big four or five bedroom houses set in a square acre. The mine also provides schools, although most of the employees' children go to boarding school in the United Kingdom or Rhodesia or South Africa. As well as houses the mine has built hospitals, clubs, and roads and it employs people such as plumbers, electricians, bricklayers, security guards and decorators to provide free services for the mine employees. Wages for a skilled worker, or a technical or professional man from overseas are extremely high and the standard of living of the country used to be really good. However over the years more and more Europeans have left as the economic situation of Zambia has deteriorated. It began with the white farmers leaving when the Government bought their farms and resold them to Africans, and then the Government bought private businesses from the Europeans and sold them to Africans, Now meat, vegetables and milk (basic commodities which were once plentiful and extremely cheap) are very rarely seen in shops and one has to pay very high prices for them when they are obtainable. The shops and supermarkets, which were once thriving businesses, are now usually empty and very badly run, and the cost of living is soaring. As I have already said the expatriates on the mine get very high wages and can afford this high cost of living but the average African in the street cannot and many of them turn to crime, robbing and stealing from the more wealthy members of the community. These conditions are driving more and more badly needed skilled and professional men away from Zambia, most expatriates now do one or perhaps two contracts (each one being for a two year period) where as at one time expatriates came out to work on the mines for one contract and ended up staying for ten. In the last five years even the old expatriates who may have been in the country for twenty to thirty years, have packed up and left. However, for all the unwelcoming points now, Mufulira is still a very beautiful town and for those like myself who were born and brought up there leaving has not been an easy task. The weather is hot all year round, with a rainy season lasting from November to April, so most people lead a very social outdoor life of fishing, boating, riding, swimming, water-skiing, golfing or playing rugby, soccer, hockey or tennis. This introduction was intended to give a broad outline of the town of Mufulira and the life there, however the following chapters will be concerned with the development and running of Mufulira mine. An aerial view of Mufulira, showing the main shopping centre. Zambia Map. THE BEGINNINGS AND DEVELOPMENT Evidence of copper was first discovered at Mufulira in 1923 by two prospectors named Moir and Bell. At that time there was no settlement there or within sixty miles, but, by 1951 a small town had formed along side a small concentrating plant, and now Mufulira is a large thriving town and her mine is the largest underground mine in Africa. The creator of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia as it is now known) was Cecil John Rhodes. His ambition was not only to secure for Britain the mineral wealth of central Africa, but also to complete a rail route from the Cape to the Nile. In London in 1889 Rhodes approached Lord Salisbury and offered to take for England the interior north of the Zambezi, and to finance its administration until the British public should awaken to the value of their new possession. Lord Salisbury accepted the offer and after further negotiations Rhodes and Lord Gifford (chairman of the Exploring Company and the Bechuanaland Exploration Company) formed an alliance and the British South Africa Company was formed. The object of this company was firstly to extend the railway and telegraph systems in the direction of the Zambezi; secondly to encourage emigration and colonization, thirdly to promote trade and commerce; and fourthly to develop and work mineral and other concessions under the management of one powerful organisation. In the next few years Rhodes concentrated on sending parties to make treaties with the tribes. The Government of North-Eastern Rhodesia was formally established by Order-in-Council in 1901, and Robert Codrington was the first administrator. Two years earlier in 1899 an Order-in-Council relating to Barotseland-North-Western Rhodesia had been signed under the administration of Robert Coryndon. In the following ten years Codrington in the East and Coryndon in the West took the tasks to establish peace and the rule of law and to lay the foundations of a stable administration. Meanwhile the country was being opened up and the railway from Bulawayo reached Victoria Falls in 1904 (though Cecil Rhodes did not live to see it as he died in 1902); mining began at Broken Hill, which had been discovered in 1902; and as the railway crept northwards towns, farms and mission stations multiplied. The line reached Broken Hill in 1906, but it was not until 1909 that it was finally extended to link up with the ‘Rhodesia-Katanga Junction Railway’ on the Congo border. The unification of Northern Rhodesia took place in 1911 with Mr. Wallace as Administrator and Livingstone was the Capital. It remained as such until Lusaka became the capital in 1954. By 1911 there were fifteen hundred Europeans in the country and several mines were operating, and considerable farming had begun. The progress, which had been made in only eleven years, was a remarkable tribute to the pioneers and administrators. Mufulira’s history began in June 1925 when two prospectors named Moir and Bell were sent by Mr. Raymond Brooks, who was then in charge of all the prospecting for two major companies, to work up the west side of the Kafue River to the Congo Border and then come back down it again along the other bank. They found nothing on the way up but when coming back down they camped by a stream called the Mufulira, and there they found some peat moss stained with malachite. They sent some of this moss to Mr. Brooks and a short time later they discovered an outcrop, which also showed meager copper- carbonate stain. A sample of this was also sent to Brook, but unfortunately it did not amount to very much. Intact it was not until five years later in 1928 that this outcrop was more thoroughly investigated by geologists and the vast riches of Mufulira were revealed. Towards the end of 1927 drilling programmes for Mufulira were approved by the board of the Selection Trust, and in March the first drill-hole showed a width of nearly twenty one feet of high-grade sulphide ore. Drilling proceeded continuously for two years and resulted in the development of one of the greatest copper mines in the world. By November of 1950 a great deal of drilling and construction had been done on the basis of a potential treatment of 5.000 tons of ore a day, but the price of copper was dangerously low and it was decided to complete only one unit of the mill which was finished in December 1951- Meanwhile, the principal copper producers of the world had agreed to a drastic curtailment of production as from the beginning of January 1952, and so it was decided to defer bringing the mill into action. The mine was closed until July 1955 when a smelter was built on the property to help increase the plant's capacity of copper each year. The mine began operation in October 1955 and over 5.600 tons of copper was produced in the next nine months. Smelting started 5th January 1957, but the world copper restriction scheme continued until October, and was not until after that date that Mufulira was really able to get into its stride. For the next fifteen years Mufulira continued to expand and develop and in November 1952 "the first tankhouse section of an electrolytic refinery was brought into operation, then in November 1955 a second section was commissioned. The refined copper casting plant began operations the following year, producing electrolytic wirebars and other shapes ready for sale to fabricators. During 1956 and 1957, exploration by surface and underground drilling disclosed a western extension of the lower ore body and mining operations were increased by fifty per cent. The capacity of the milling and smelting- operations was also increased to handle the increased quantity of ore. The third tankhouse of the refinery was commissioned in December 1965 and a further tankhouse in 1972. Monthly production capacity in 1974 was 21,000 tonnes of cathode copper per month, and the annual production was over 7,5 million tonnes of ore from which about 156,000 tonnes of copper was extracted. Personnel joining the mining section of the mine from 1933 to the beginning of the 1960's went through every aspect of mining, whether they were unskilled or graduates. They would start as lashers working on the night shift at lashing the rock blasted on the day shift, and then taking it to the surface. From lashing; they went to production tabulating and counting the amount of rock broken in a blast. Then they went into pipe fitting which involved installing pipes for water and air used for cooling machines and ventilation during drilling. After that they would go into timbering, which was building platforms for the rockbreakers, making ladderways, and ensuring that the passages underground were safe. Lastly they went to rockbreaking, which was laying explosives and blasting the rock. A rockbreaker had to break over 550 feet per month or he was taken off and put back to timbering. A top rockbreaker could mine around 1,200 feet of rock per month. Young men with mining degrees would start as learner mine officials and had to work right through from lasher to rockbreaker. However, nowadays graduates just work at the part of mining that they are specialized in, or they only learn one aspect of mining. Before Independence in 1964, a European on the mine was known as a ganger or supervisor and was in charge of a gang of African labourers. Under him was an African 'boss boy', who was chosen from the labourers and given special training, since Independence and since the Zambian Government took over half of the mine, the Europeans have trained Africans to take on more responsible jobs and there are now African Shift Bosses, Mine Captains and future Managers. The mine is divided into sections and each section is divided again, A Shift Boss oversees a small section and the gangs working there; the larger section is under the control of a Mine Captain; above a Mine Captain comes an Underground Manager, then a Superintendent manager, and finally the General Manager. All the different sections of the mine work very closely together as one section could not operate very efficiently on its own, and each one is equally important in the smooth running of the mine. Production There are many different methods of mining, but the main one used at Mufulira is ‘open stoping’. There are several variations of this type of mining but basically it is the mining of huge sections of the ore body, leaving vast open caverns known as ore stopes. These open stopes may or may not be filled with waste rock or sand, depending on whether later caving is desirable. For example, if the stope is under a road or stream then it will be filled to prevent a cave in, however if it is under wasteland and caving will not affect production the stope is not filled. The ore body strata are approximately 10 metres to 15 metres thick and lie in a plane at about a 45°degree angle to the horizontal. They are divided into blocks, on the mine surveyor and geologist charts, which can be as large as 100 metres long, 60 metres high and 40 metres wide, and each block is separated from the next by several metres of rock pillars. Tunnels called crosscuts are mined into the blocks and then further tunnels known as drivers are driven horizontally through the blocks so linking the crosscuts. (see diagram). From these drivers, and at right angles to them, holes measuring about 4.5 cm diameter are drilled in ‘fan rings’ at intervals. These holes are later charges with blasting powder, and at one edge of the block a 2 to 3 metre section is mined out to leave an empty space called a ‘slot’. Further crosscuts are mined to the very base of the block and from these, inverted cone shaped excavations are made into the block and are called ‘drawpoints’. The blasted rock falls down the slot into the draw points where it is later removed. The ground adjacent to the slot is then blasted and falls into the draw point. This process, called stoping, is repeated until the entire block is mined out. The ore is removed from the draw points by front end loader caterpillars, which can carry three tons of ore at a time, and they tip the ore down ore passes which carry it to a common draw point on a lower level where it is control fed into rail cars which take it to an underground crushing station. The ore is crushed to a more manageable size of 15cm or less in diameter and then transported by conveyor belt to storage bins at the rock-hoisting shaft. Here it is fed into skips and hoisted to the surface. Concentrator On the surface the ore is further crushed to less than 1 cm in diameter, and then it is placed in ‘ball mills’ which are large steel cylinders containing steel balls. These cylinders are rotated and after several hours of smashing and pounding within the mill, the ore is reduced to a fine dust, rather like face powder. Water is induced into the mill during this process so that the resulting product is a fine white paste. The next step is flotation, where the paste is put into the tanks containing water and a special chemical and air is bubbled through this mixture. The chemicals cause rock particles containing copper to adhere to the air bubble and float to the surface, where it is scooped off. This concentration is about 46 percent copper. The waste collects as slime at the bottom of the tanks and is pumped out to a piece of wasteland known as a slimes dam. Smelter The concentrate is mixed with limestone to act as a flux and then it is smelted in a reverberatory furnace. This smelting forms waste slag, which floats to the surface and copper and iron sulphides, known as ‘matte’, sink to the bottom where they are drawn off and placed in a ‘converter’ furnace. Here high-pressure air is blown through the sulphides and the iron sulphides are oxidised to iron oxide, and then a siliceous flux is added which reacts with the iron oxide to form a floating slag, which is then skimmed off. Next the copper sulphides are oxidised to form metallic copper known as ‘blister’ copper. The sulphur is oxidised as well and given off as sulphur dioxide gas -- the pungent fumes always associated with a copper smelter. The blister copper is then conveyed to the anode furnace where it is further oxidised to remove any remaining traces of sulphur. Next it is ‘poled’ to remove excess oxygen. Poling is a process where green hardwood tree trunks are forced into molten copper. The oxygen in the copper literally burns with the wood, forming carbon dioxide gas, which is given off. The ash floats as slag and is skimmed off. The copper is now 99.8 per cent pure, but for modern industry this is not pure enough, so from the anode furnace the copper is cast into anodes, (so called because they will form the anode in the electrolytic refining process). Refinery In the refinery tankhouse anodes are packed alternately with thin pure copper starting sheets, called cathodes. They are packed closely but not touching, and are wired to a direct electric current with the anodes being positive and the cathodes negative. They are immersed in a tank containing sulphuric acid solution, which acts as the electrolyte. Through electrolysis, the ions of pure copper are displaced from the anodes and reform on the cathodes. Any impurities or contaminated metal settles at the bottom of the tank as sludge as the anode dissolves. The sludge contains minute amounts of minerals such as bismuth, gold, silver uranium and platinum. These are removed and processed as they account for a valuable proportion of Zambia’s exports. The cathodes are now 99.97 per cent pure copper and they are melted down in furnaces and cast into wire bars. These bars are then ready for export to countries all over the world. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MINE The whole of Mufulira's economy relies on the mine and life there evolves completely around it. Of her 156,000 population, about 15% are mine employees and the rest depend totally on the mine for their livelihood. For instance all the people who work in the town in shops and offices would not have jobs if it wasn't for the mine, and the factories and industries which employ thousands of people would not exist if the mine wasn't there. In short, if the mine was to shut down the town would die because the European mine employees would leave and the Africans would be unemployed, all the associated industries would have to close causing great unemployment, and workers would leave the town to look else where for jobs. If the majority of the population left then all the trading area of the town would also be forced to close and soon Mufulira would be no more than a memory. The people of Mufulira realise how important the mine is and that's why seven years ago when disaster struck and threatened to close the mine, the whole population fought night and day to keep the mine open. The accident happened in the early morning of 25 September 1970, when half of the mine was flooded and eighty-nine men were killed. Total production was reduced to one fifteenth of normal and a great battle began to save the mine from complete devastation. The accident was caused because mud and water from the 'slimes dam' had seeped through cracks in an over hanging wall in an old slope and eventually the force of the mud and the pressure of the slimes dam caused a section of the over hanging wall to give way, and the mud and water rushed into the Eastern section of the mine and flooded all shafts below 500 metres. Fortunately the pump station on the 500-metre level was saved and prevented the rest of the mine being flooded. The slimes dam is made up of powder waste from the concentrator. After the copper and waste have been separated in the concentrator, the waste is mixed with water and pumped out into a large area of wasteland. Over the years a small lake of mud forms and this is how it gets the name slimes dam. The actual slimes dam that flooded the mine was situated on top of a disused part of the mine, and waste had not been pumped there for some years, (it was, and still is, pumped to an area far away from the mine). The stope below the dam was mined out but had not been filled, so it was like an empty cavern, and mud seeped through cracks in the surface. Although mud and bits of tree had been found under ground the day before the disaster, there was no time for investigations to begin because the hanging wall gave way and sludge and mud poured into the mine with a pressure of more than 1,000 lbs per square inch. The men working in the shafts below 500 metres stood no chance of escaping, most of them were killed by the force of the mud before they had time to drown. Men on higher shafts, on realising what had happened, desperately scrambled to the cages to get to the surface. It was only when these first few survivors reached the surface that the full extent of the disaster was realised. Eighty-nine men were killed and if the disaster had happened six hours later hundreds, if not a thousand, would have been killed. Rescue operations began immediately and from mid-morning of Friday 25 September fifty sorties were carried out by mine rescue teams from all the Copperbelt mines. The teams exposed themselves to extreme danger, as there could be no guarantee that a further inrush of mud would not occur. They examined every accessible section of the affected part of the mine and rescued four men who would otherwise have died. However, by the 30th September it was decided that there was no hope of further survivors and the rescue teams were withdrawn. If ever a mine was well served by its engineers, Mufulira was. Early on they had decided on the site for an emergency pumping system as water was rising in the shaft at eight inches per minute and a whole range of decisions had to be made quickly and accurately as to where the water was to be held and then relayed to the 454 metre pump station. As an additional precaution and to guard against failure to hold the rising water, massive concrete bulkheads were built west of the emergency pumping to protect the undamaged end of the mine. Consultants were flown in to advise on how to improve the overall situation by working on the slimes dam from which the mud had flowed into the mine. A huge sinkhole had formed in the slimes dam and the essential work of preventing further flooding had to be completed before the end of November when the seasonal rains began. So drains were made to carry rainwater away from the sinkhole, and free water lying in the base of the sinkhole was pumped away. Work to clear the mine continued twenty-four hours per day for the following months. There were many accidents, which set back the operations, and the maintenance of the morale of the workers was almost as important as the mine itself. The effect of the disaster on the small community of Mufulira was profound and although there was no problem for the first few days because of pressure of events, it was realised that there would be a considerable reaction when this period ended. To keep up morale all available information was passed on to employees, and in spite of the very heavy pressure on scarce engineering resources, a full-scale planning exercise was initiated aimed at restoring the mine to full capacity. Knowledge of this helped to reassure employees that their own future was secure and that management had every confidence that all the problems would, eventually, be overcome. As soon as the urgent work of securing the surface was substantially completed a range of investigation was carried out on the slimes dam and any risk of a similar disaster was looked at and ruled out. Gradually production picked up as parts of the flooded shaft were cleared and worked. By 1974 the mine was back to full production although parts of the flooded mine are still now, six and a half years later, being cleared of mud and there are parts which are not going to be cleared as it is thought to be uneconomical to do so. This disaster very nearly closed one of the most important underground mines in the world and if this had have happened it would have cost millions, if not billions of pounds to re-open and re-build, and if it had not been reopened there would have been hundreds of millions of tonnes of untapped copper left underground. The devastation of Mufulira mine would have been a major blow to Zambia's economy, but thanks to the determination, skill, and hard work of the population, Mufulira is back to normal production and is now concentrating on improving production. CONCLUSION Zambia relies very heavily on her copper exports and her economy has suffered greatly due to the falling price of copper on the world market over the past few years. In April 1974, copper prices were at 150 US cents a pound (that is pound in weight). But by October of the same year prices fell to 62 US cents a pound. The principal determination of copper prices in the short-term is the level of industrial production, particularly in the electrical industry, which consumes almost half of the world's supply of copper. However, many other factors are important, notably the level of stocks and expected changes in demand. Prices are now at about 80 US cents a pound. Production has had to be cut back considerably because of the falling copper prices, but still many thousands of people on the Copperbelt rely on the mining industry for their livelyhood. So if a major mine like Mufulira had to be shut down because of a disaster similar to the one in 1970 or if ore deposits ran out, all these people would loose their jobs and Zambia's economy would suffer a severe blow. In 1974 Zambia exported 687,000 tonnes of copper to countries all over the world, including the United Kingdom, West Germany and Japan. This amounted to more than K686, 500 thousand and accounted for 94 per cent of the countries export earnings. Estimated ore reserves at 50 June 1974 were 140,697,000 tonnes at 3.22 per cent copper, so although there are still perhaps twenty five years of mining left at Mufulira, the copper will have to run out at some time and then what will become of the town? One can only speculate as to the future of Mufulira, but at present should the mine cease to function the town would rapidly die. Thus unless her economy is diversified into industry and agriculture, I doubt the town of Mufulira will outlive the mine by more than two years. Bibliography Copper Venture by R Kenneth An Outline of Mining Operations at Mufulira by D Young How Mufulira has been Rehabilitated by R Neller, J Sandy and V Oliver Zambian Mining Year Book 1974 Mufulira Division Annual Publication 1974 Lloyds Bank Ltd Economic Reports of 1973 and 1974 And my special thanks to Mr Banda of the Zambian Appointments Division of Roan Consolidated Mines Ltd., and Mr N. P. Billany for all the invaluable help that they gave me with this essay. Bridget Billany Selected Mining Photographs from George Maxwell's collection which I am posting to further illustrate and compliment Bridget's essay. Index m64-178 Casting anodes in the smelter at Mufulira Mine m68-65 Main station 1650 level Mufulira m68-205 A15 ton Greenbat locomotive hauls 25 ton capacity Gregg cars at Mufulira m74-47 Large flotation cells in the concentrator at RCM’s Mufulira Mine m74-178 An Eimco loader approaching a draw point underground at Mufulira m78-3 Mufulira underground ore train at loading box m79-88 Underground diesel workshops Mufulira West m81-3 Underground loader on 730m level - Mufulira m81-11 A loader under repair in the underground diesel workshops m81-38 Long hole drilling at Mufulira division of Roan Consolidated Mines Ltd muf001 Jackhammer drilling underground at Mufulira Northerners ! I'm still way behind with my e-mail and the posting of photos on the GNR. Eventually I will catch up - thank you all for your patience. Bridget's essay will be incorporated into the main GNR website and will form part of the GNR's permanent archive when the new site is complete. Bridget - thank you. Arthur Arthur Steevens — Click here to contact me Stockport, United Kingdom Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 23:55:30 (UTC)

Northerners ! I'm way behind with my e-mail and stuff for the message board that has been sent in. I will try and catch up as time allows and will reply to as much e-mail as I can tomorrow. Doug Thanks for the information on the caving areas in Mufulira, at first I assumed these areas were caves to be explored, however there is always something new to be learned on the GNR. The response to the mining disaster in Mufulira prompted Bridget Billany to mail me an essay she did for part of her HND which deals with the disaster in some detail and also mining in Mufulira in general. Together with the essay are some very interesting images and a brilliant aerial photo of Mufulira in the early sixties. If I get it all finished I will post it up tomorrow. In the meantime I am posting up the contributions below, all Nkana-Kitwe this time. No doubt I'll get the usual complaints about my bias, but I have been promised some photos of various farm animals in interesting poses going through a dip which I hope to post later this month, maybe. Heather also sent me a couple of wildlife shots to be posted while she's away. Arthur, I broke down and bought myself a slide scanner. Here are a couple of test shots. Gwen Austin and someone whose name I forget is one, Jennifer ?? is the other. Hope these images are of interest. I wish I could remember who and where these places and people were. Maybe someone can indentify them. Thanks Dave Hounsell Dave - I presume all your photo's are taken in Kitwe - the "street" image is (as I knew it) Regent Street, the building on the right, the old OK Bazaars building, now called Shopright? The "bar" image looks like it was taken outside the RTV station on Salisbury Drive looking towards the roundabout junction where Kent Avenue meets. The buildings on the other side of the roundabout - I think the bar was called the Skyline. We had judo classes in part of this building. This area was part of the Parklands shopping area. The other town photos I don't recognise, no doubt someone else will. And I don't believe you about not knowing who the girls were - especially "Jenni" - Arthur Hi Arthur, Here are the promised bush scenes from 1953. They were taken in the Lamba Reserve when I was taking supples to the Police A/I who was temporarily seconded to the Game and Tetse Department. The area covered by the patrols stretched up to Chief Shiwuchinga's village. The young man in the photos eventually moved to the Game and Tetse Department and was stationed in the Kafue National Park where he was involved in the rearing of a third lion cub and is mentioned in Norman Carr's book "Return to the Wild". Norman suggested that the cub went on to accompany Elizabeth Taylor in the film "Cleopatra" Here is a photo which might be of interest. It is of the Astra Cinema (Kitwe) taken from the Barclays Bank single quarters in 1953. How things changed! The negative was badly damaged through my own carelessness, (It ended up on the garage floor in Kitwe), I've done a basic repair job on it, but it won't stand up to any great enlargement. Regards, Mike Wilson Mike - absolutely brilliant photo of the Astra. I was suprised to see the car parking area across the road from the Astra - I always remember Regent Street having shops right up to the end of the road, however the car park must have been there when I was in Nkana-Kitwe and I was too young to remember it being built over - Arthur In the archives of the Great North Road there are pictures of Mindola Dam complete with a swimming pool. For us ‘old timers’ those pictures are confusing because it is not Mindola Dam as we remember it. In the early 60’s Mindola Dam was drained because it was causing flooding at Mindola Mine. At the top end of the Dam it looked terrible with trees and stumps sticking out of the muddy sludge. But the diehard water skiers continued to water ski in a very small area close to the old wall. Then for whatever reasons a new and higher wall was built and the bottom of the Dam was lined with tailings to form a sealer. In January of 1966 we went out to the Dam and the roof had been removed from the Angling Club building and the water level was half way up the walls. The water at the Yacht Club building was already up to the steps of the building. There are a number of slides showing the progress of the building of this wall. Then shortly before we left we took one last look at the dam. At this time the Yacht Club, being a two-storey building no doubt, had been reduced to a pile of rubble and the water was almost up to the old road that had led to the Yacht Club and the Angling Club. 1.The old Yacht Club at Mindola Dam. In the background there is a stone wall that is where the water level used to be before they started draining the dam in the early 60’s. 2.The new dam wall. In the background there is Mindola Dam and the old dam wall. 3.Mindola Dam, the old wall and the slimes tailings on the right. 4.The new Dam Wall. 5.Looking across the old dam wall. 6.Standing on the old dam wall looking down at the area that was going to be filled 7.The water level reaches the Yacht Club; it was a beautiful building. 8.Our son at the age of eighteen months with the water already covering the steps. 9.Mindola Dam filling up. 10.Work on the new Wall 11.A picture of the Angling Club taken in 1965. Ivor and Lynn de Lange (Harris) Margaret de Lange (Charles) and Margaret de Lange (Steve’s sister, yes there are actually three of us. Dereck’s wife is also Margaret -- Peggy to be less confusing. 12.The Angling Club as the water level rises. 13.The rubble of the Yacht Club. 14.Tailings pond as it is pumped out. 15.A closer view of the tailings being pumped out. 16.Mindola Dam, with the rubble of the old Yacht Club. Marge and Steve de Lange Marge and Steve - thanks for taking the trouble sending me the brilliant Photo CD's. I will post the other photographs and narratives a bit later - Arthur. Thanks to ALL of you for contributions. Arthur Arthur Steevens — Click here to contact me Stockport, United Kingdom Saturday, April 05, 2003 at 09:36:03 (UTC)

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