In District 3, the Falcon mines in Central Rhodesia belong to an English company which is treating copper-gold ore occurring in old schists. The production was about 7,000,000 pounds in 1916. The ore carries 2 per cent. copper, $5 in gold, and the reserves are stated at 862,000 tons of this grade, or about four years’ supply.
In the French Congo, just north of the mouth of Congo River, is a belt of copper deposits 60 miles long, which have been worked for centuries by the natives. Diabase rocks occur in this vicinity. The output is very small.
District 4, Cape Colony, is the oldest important copper producer of modern Africa, but its chief deposits, worked since 1852, are nearly exhausted. The Cape Copper Co. and Namaqua Copper Co. are south of the Orange River in a district 90 miles by rail from a port on the West Coast. The ore is bornite and chalcopyrite, in irregular lenses; the reserves are equivalent to only two years of production. Each mine has a mill and smelter. Further refining is done at the Briton Ferry smelter of the Cape Copper Co. in Wales, which has a capacity of 12,000 tons per year of refined copper and electrolytic copper. All these companies, including the railroad, are entirely British. Cape Colony copper production is dependent on this one district, from which the 1917 output was 6,000,000 to 7,000,000 pounds.
In District 5, the former colony of German Southwest Africa, copper deposits are numerous, and next to diamond mining the production of copper is the most important industry of the province. The main deposit is the Tsumeb in the northeast part of the country, where solid sulphides of lead and copper occur in dolomite. Fifty thousand tons of ore carrying 13 per cent. copper and 40 per cent. lead was shipped in 1917. There is a smelter here and the mine has rail connection. The company working these deposits was the Otavi Minen und Eisenbahn, but through the Southwest Africa Co. the English had an interest in the property. The English now have control. The Khan mine, second in importance to Tsumeb, is working a pegmatite vein in schist. In 1914 a mill treating 50 tons a day was shipping 60 to 70 per cent. concentrates to Europe. The ores are chalcopyrite and chalcocite.
In District 6, northern Africa, there are some deposits of copper in Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco. They are not of importance at present. De Launay describes them as chiefly veins in rocks of much younger age than the important deposits of Africa which lie south of the Equator.
Matte and blister produced in Africa are normally treated at small English plants or at the Briton Ferry smelter, Wales, which is a plant of some size.
The general economic situation as regards African copper ores in 1917 is shown in the [table].
Table 46.—Production and Shipments of Copper from Africa in 1917
| Mine | Production, (pounds) | Chief product shipped | Shipped to— |
|---|---|---|---|
| Katanga | 60,000,000 | matte and blister | England |
| Cape Copper-Namaqua | 7,000,000 | matte | England |
| Messina | 14,000,000 | concentrates, matte, hand-picked ore | England |
| Falcon | 7,000,000 | concentrates or ore | England |
| Bwan M’Kubwa | 4,000,000 | Katanga plants | |
| German Southwest Africa, Otavi, Khan | 12,000,000 | ore | England or Germany |
| North Africa | 1,000,000 | ore | France |
| 105,000,000 |
Considerable of this copper goes to the United States. In 1917, as shown below, the total amount of copper received in this country was 7.5 per cent. of the total African production.