Okiep Mine (O'Okiep Mine), Okiep Copper District, Namakwa District Municipality, Northern Cape, South Africai

Regional Level Types
Okiep Mine (O'Okiep Mine)	Mine
Okiep Copper District	Mining District
Namakwa District Municipality	District Municipality
Northern Cape	Province
South Africa	Country

The Okiep mine was one of the largest and oldest in the district (Marais, 1987). Initially, pioneer mining started from a mineralized outcrop of an intrusive of the Koperberg Suite. This was followed a century later by new discoveries of ore (at progressively greater depth) that were proven using geophysics, supported by systematic mapping and surface and underground diamond drilling. The geological setting of the Okiep Mine is of special interest because of the confinement of the deeper part of the copper-bearing intrusive to a steep-dipping pipe of megabreccia.

The mining area west of the Main Shaft is alluvium-covered, the Okiep ore body being reported to have outcropped only at one point in a knoll hardly more than 6 m across. The surface exposure of mineralized basic rock led into what was later named the West Okiep orebody in which most of the early mining was carried out.

The first records of the Okiep Mine are dated 1856 when a shaft with a "splendid show of copper" is mentioned and by the end of that year the shaft was 12 metres deep. In 1864 a small engine was erected which operated the pumps and roll crushers, and later a whim engine was installed. In the 1860's Okiep became the most important mine of the Cape Copper Company. By 1873 the mine was 116 metres deep and large quantities of water had been encountered. A breakdown of the pump caused the lower levels to flood, thereby disrupting operations. This mishap prompted the directors to purchase a 30-inch Cornish pump. By 1882 the mine was at a depth of 208 metres and the 30-inch Cornish pump was proving insufficient to handle the water. A second 50-inch Cornish pump was therefore obtained, designed by John Hocking and built by Harveys of Hayle. As far as it is known this pump is the only complete Cornish pump remaining in the Southern Hemisphere. Other artifacts of early mining equipment and mining techniques can still be seen at the old mines today.

The Okiep Mine contributed approximately 9,4 million tonnes of ore at 1.95% copper to the reserves of the O'okiep Copper Company. (Extract from Cairncross, 2004).

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