Searching for African Prospects: Life as a Mining Engineer in Nigeria and Angola PDF
Preview Searching for African Prospects: Life as a Mining Engineer in Nigeria and Angola
SEARCHING FOR AFRICAN PROSPECTS SEARCHING FOR AFRICAN PROSPECTS Life as a Mining Engineer in Nigeria and Angola Diana Chads The Radcliffe Press ⋅ LONDON NEW YORK Published in 2006 by The Radcliffe Press 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU In the United States and in Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St Martin’s Press 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © Diana Chads, 2006 The right of Diana Chads to be identified as the licensor of this work has been asserted by the licensor in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN 1 84511 182 6 EAN 978 1 84511 182 3 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog card: available Typeset in Sabon by Oxford Publishing Services, Oxford Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin Contents List of illustrations vii Glossary viii Foreword by G. C. Morrison ix Introduction xi Map of Nigeria xiv Map of Angola xv 1. Nigeria: The Bisichi Tin Company 1 Forum camp 4 The ‘pagans’ 15 The Hausas 19 A few more observations about the Hausas 28 2. Forum Camp 31 Du camp 48 The return journey 62 A summary of tin mining in Nigeria 64 Nigeria today 66 3. Angola: The Zambesia Exploring Company 69 24 January 1930 to 27 February 1931 69 A trip to the wild north 81 4. The Blackwell Partnership 95 28 February to 25 April 1930 95 5. The Cavaco Trip 113 v CONTENTS 26 April to 10 June 1930 113 William’s musings on Angolan labourers 130 6. From Catumbella to the Uaque River 137 10 June to 16 August 1930 137 The Uaque River prospect: copper at last 156 7. The Uaque to the Cubal River 167 18 August to 10 October 1930 167 Epilogue 187 Index 189 vi List of illustrations 1. Captain William J. Chads. xvi 2. Landing boats at Sekondi, Gold Coast (now Ghana). 3 3. William’s first bedroom. 5 4. In Forum camp. 6 5. Stripping overburden with water at Mission Creek. 9 6. The big shovel at work at camp 1060. 11 7. Big and little shovel and tractor at camp 1060. 12 8. Sluice boxes at camp 1060. 13 9. A monitor at Mission Creek. 33 10. Sluice boxes and tin shed at camp 1060. 37 11. William’s house at paddock 259. 54 12. The gravel pump at paddock 259. 57 13. Double 20-inch pipeline bridge at camp 25. 59 14. New road to No. 2 camp. 60 15. Granite rock about 1200 feet high. 65 16. William’s first camp 20 kilometres from Benguela. 77 17. A prospector’s camp outfit. 78 18. Flooded out from the river bed at camp 123. 92 19. The Cavaco River. 114 20. Baobab tree, 59-inch circumference measured eight feet from the ground. 121 21. In the granite plateau. 122 22. River Bolombo passing through limestone near Egito. 141 23. Crossing River Eval on coast road in the dry season. 148 24. Bananas, coffee and more. 169 vii Glossary adobe sun-dried clay brick used as a building material alkali local Nigerian judge baraki mining camp barraque men’s housing quarters in camp batook special form of African drum biltong strips of dried raw meat bushcow short-horned West African buffalo capataz foreman chef de poste labour recruiter chop food chupoya portable bed fuba crushed mealies (local staple diet) leat trench or channel for conveying water mallam a man educated in Koranic studies materiales de guerre war materials palaver argument (in West African context) or discussion sala Muslim religious festival seraki king shengie hut veld open country waca clumsy zareba thorn gazebo viii Foreword by G. C. Morrison W ill Chads was a great character, of that there can be no doubt. Essentially over many years our relationship was that of master and servant. As his stockbroker, he would walk into my office unannounced and unexpected, frequently when there was absolute bedlam with telephones ringing all around, and stand silently in the doorway until someone noticed him – a tall commanding figure in a rather crumpled beige lounge suit that must have seen many years service in the tropics, a smile on his face and a silver-topped cane completed the picture. On one occasion when he looked particularly dishevelled, I asked him if next time he looked in the office, he would wear a better suit so that the other stockbrokers in the building would not think that we were rotten stockbrokers! He laughed, as I knew he would. On being asked to sit down, there would follow a few minutes of banter. He was known as Captain Chads to the older members of our staff. On his personal effects I once noticed that a box had Major Chads printed on the side but such was his commanding presence, I never had the courage to ask why. During the years I knew him, he had what seemed to me to be a well balanced life – winter indulging his love of opera and summers spent with his interest in tennis – rumour had it that in his younger years he played for his county. Certainly, I had many happy days at Wimbledon with him in the best seats and only once was payment requested – to pump up the tyres of his elderly but distinguished Daimler. He was a very generous man and I went with him on several occasions to the opera – again in the best seats. On the last ix
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