Mining historian, columnist, journalist and author Jade Davenport will coincide the launch of her book, Digging Deep – A History of Mining in South Africa, with the 2014 Investing in African Mining Indaba, which will take place at the International Cape Town Convention Centre from February 3 to 6.

“The Mining Indaba is the largest gathering of mining professionals in Africa and, with the 8 000 delegates that are expected to attend the 2014 conference, it just makes sense to launch the book at the event,” she says.

The book covers 150 years of commercial mining activity in South Africa, beginning with the advent of commercial mining in the Northern Cape’s Namaqualand and concluding with the promulgation of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act in 2002.

“The book covers the history of seven of South Africa’s most historically important commodities – copper, diamonds, gold, coal, iron-ore, platinum and uranium,” says Davenport.

She believes the book is the first of its kind, as it provides a comprehensive history of South Africa’s phenomenal mineral revolution.

“While countless books have been written on specific aspects of South Africa’s expansive mining industry, which have mostly covered the diamond and gold mining industries and the men that pioneered those industries, this is the very first book that provides the reader with a succinct but comprehensive overview of the complete development of the country’s mining industry, from its earliest commercial beginnings to the present day,” says Davenport.

A Penchant for History

Davenport has always had a passion for history, particularly South African history. “However, it was only towards the end of 2005, after working at Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly for a year, that I began to develop a keen interest in the subject of mining.”

She says it was a natural progression to marry her two interests and start focusing on the subject of South African mining history. “Now, I absolutely live and breathe the subject,” she says.

Davenport took three years to research and write the book using an extensive bibliography of published material on the history of gold and diamond mining, as well as on corporate mining history.

“I consulted corporate archives, where possible, and conducted a lot of research at the National Archives and the Cape Town and Pretoria campuses of the National Library,” she says.

Davenport highlights that she went through every back copy of South African mining and industrial magazines and journals to find relevant articles and editorials, which helped with the writing process. “I was also fortunate enough to go on many road trips to the old mining towns and villages dotted across the country,” she adds.

Davenport says the biggest challenge in writing the book was deciding what should be included or excluded. “Not only is South Africa’s mining history extremely broad, in that it covers so many different commodities, but the industry has also been profoundly influential in shaping the country’s socioeconomic and political fabric. Therefore, it was quite challenging to weave the chronological history of very different commodities while contextualising that narrative in South Africa’s broader history and in the global economic and industrial history,” says Davenport.

Hope for the Future

Davenport hopes that readers will gain a more comprehensive understanding of how and why South Africa’s mining industry developed the way it did. “More importantly, I hope that this book will stimulate an appreciation of, and a deeper interest in, the country’s rich mining heritage, which may soon be lost, owing to a general lack of interest from the public.”

She says there is scope for future publications with regard to various aspects of not only South African but also African mining history. “However, I intend to take a break from book writing for the time being and aim to concentrate my efforts on documenting and showcasing aspects of South Africa’s mining heritage, which, unfortunately, is significantly underrated,” she concludes.