Koegas mine (original) (raw)
The Koegas mine was a crocidolite (blue asbestos) mine in Northern Cape, South Africa. It lies near to the town of Prieska and drew much of its workforce from there and Griquatown; though significant proportions also came from Botswana, Zimbabwe and Malawi. The mine was opened by Cape Asbestos Company Limited in 1893. Its small-scale operations were unprofitable and it temporarily ceased work in 1903. Production resumed in 1907 and the First World War led to a boom. The mine eventually became the largest crocidolite mine in the world. After a difficult period during the Great Depression the Second World War and post-war economic boom led to an increase in production, with up to 5,000 miners on site. Extraction and milling of asbestos continued until 1979.
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| dbo:abstract | The Koegas mine was a crocidolite (blue asbestos) mine in Northern Cape, South Africa. It lies near to the town of Prieska and drew much of its workforce from there and Griquatown; though significant proportions also came from Botswana, Zimbabwe and Malawi. The mine was opened by Cape Asbestos Company Limited in 1893. Its small-scale operations were unprofitable and it temporarily ceased work in 1903. Production resumed in 1907 and the First World War led to a boom. The mine eventually became the largest crocidolite mine in the world. After a difficult period during the Great Depression the Second World War and post-war economic boom led to an increase in production, with up to 5,000 miners on site. Extraction and milling of asbestos continued until 1979. Worker safety concerns were raised by mine inspectors throughout its operation and the housing, sanitation and medical facilities provided by Cape were regarded as substandard. Many workers fell ill with asbestosis due to exposure to fibres and many died. A law suit was launched by former workers and their families in the English courts in 1998. Cape contested that the matter should be heard in the South African courts as the mine had been owned by its subsidiary registered in that country. The matter was heard in the House of Lords, which was then the highest appeals court in the country. The law lords ruled in Lubbe v Cape plc that Cape owed a duty of care to the employees of its subsidiary and allowed the case to proceed. Cape subsequently settled out of court, paying £21 million to those who claimed to have suffered ill health as a result of the mine workings. (en) |
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| dbp:caption | Crocidolite from the Prieska region (en) |
| dbp:country | South Africa (en) |
| dbp:name | Koegas mine (en) |
| dbp:owner | dbr:Cape_plc |
| dbp:place | Near Prieska (en) |
| dbp:products | Asbestos (en) |
| dbp:pushpinMap | South Africa (en) |
| dbp:pushpinMapCaption | Location in South Africa (en) |
| dbp:state/province | Northern Cape (en) |
| dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate | dbt:Convert dbt:Coord dbt:End_date dbt:Reflist dbt:Short_description dbt:Start_date dbt:Infobox_mine |
| dcterms:subject | dbc:Asbestos_mines dbc:Economy_of_the_Northern_Cape dbc:Mines_in_South_Africa |
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| rdf:type | geo:SpatialThing |
| rdfs:comment | The Koegas mine was a crocidolite (blue asbestos) mine in Northern Cape, South Africa. It lies near to the town of Prieska and drew much of its workforce from there and Griquatown; though significant proportions also came from Botswana, Zimbabwe and Malawi. The mine was opened by Cape Asbestos Company Limited in 1893. Its small-scale operations were unprofitable and it temporarily ceased work in 1903. Production resumed in 1907 and the First World War led to a boom. The mine eventually became the largest crocidolite mine in the world. After a difficult period during the Great Depression the Second World War and post-war economic boom led to an increase in production, with up to 5,000 miners on site. Extraction and milling of asbestos continued until 1979. (en) |
| rdfs:label | Koegas mine (en) |
| owl:sameAs | wikidata:Koegas mine https://global.dbpedia.org/id/FwDz5 |
| geo:geometry | POINT(22.354166030884 -29.299722671509) |
| geo:lat | -29.299723 (xsd:float) |
| geo:long | 22.354166 (xsd:float) |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Koegas_mine?oldid=1044198546&ns=0 |
| foaf:depiction | wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Prieska,_South_Africa.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Industry_during_the_First_World_War_Q28240.jpg wiki-commons:Special:FilePath/Riebeckite-210685.jpg |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:Koegas_mine |
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| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:Koegas_mine |
