The Cornish Engine House at
O’kiep, Namaqualand,
Northern Cape.
from “The Blue-Book for the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope 1878″, published by the Colonial Office of the Cape of Good Hope.
The O’okiep mine is is situate about 3 miles north of Springbok. The present annual production of O’okiep is 12,000 tons of ore, averaging 32 per cent. The number of persons employed in the mine is as follows: 56 miners, 31 mechanics, 716 labourers (men, women and children), 13 overseers, total 816. A railway, 93 miles in length, has been constructed by the Cape Copper Mining Company, connecting the O’okiep mine with Port Nolloth, and giving employment to 7 station masters, 10 conductors, 26 platelayers, 38 mechanics, 17 boatmen, 330 labourers, total 428.
Machinery, such as ore-crushing mills, pumps, Nasmyth hammers, cupola furnaces, steam engines etc., of a very modern type has been erected at the mines and port, necessitating continuous employment of a large number of high-clas mechanics. Several trial mines are being worked by the Cape Copper Mining Company in this district, and 23 miners and 37 labourers are employed in them. The total number of people employed on all the works is 1,304. 40 horses and 350 mules are used in carrying on the work connected with the mines and the railway. The forage required for these animals is 987 tons oats and rye, and 166 tons oathay, which it is impossible to obtain in Namaqualand, and it therefore has to be imported from the Berg River district or elsewhere.
