Havelock Asbestos Mine
The Havelock Asbestos Mine was an open pit and underground asbestos mine in Bulembu, Eswatini, operated by Turner & Newall and the Swazi government from 1934 until 2001.
Location and Overview
The Havelock Mine is a former asbestos mining site located near Bulembu, a former mining town in the northwestern region of Eswatini. This town is approximately 20 km south-southeast of Barberton, South Africa, and 4 km south of Emlembe, eSwatini's highest peak at 1862 masl. Havelock operated as both an open-pit and underground operation, covering an area of 1.5 × 0.4 km just south of Bulembu. Today, the mine residues include two asbestos tailings sites and a waste rock pile, covering an area of approximately 50 ha.History
Early operations and ownership
Chrysotile asbestos, also known as white asbestos, was first commercially mined at the Havelock Mine in 1939 after detailed prospecting from 1928 to 1929. Mining and processing methods included dry grinding, which, together with the crushing, sorting, grinding and bagging of the ore, generated substantial dust at the mine site and in the surrounding area. From 1939 until the early 1980s, the mine was owned and operated by the British company T&N, which was a major employer and taxpayer in Swaziland for several decades. In 1980, following T&N's bankruptcy, ownership was transferred to a consortium between Havelock Asbestos Mines and the Government of Swaziland. Thus, T&N avoided legal action, compensation claims from miners with asbestos related diseases, including their families, and the costs associated with cleaning up the mine site.Mining Operations
The mine began as an open pit operation, but by 1948 it had been converted to underground mining, facilitated by the construction of a three-compartment inclined shaft to the east of the processing plant. In the early 1960s a more substantial 7 m diameter vertical shaft was constructed, reaching a depth of 504 m below the shaft collar by the early 1970s. This shaft served as the main access to the deeper levels of the mine until its closure in 2001.Production and decline
Over its lifetime, the Havelock mine produced approximately 1.8 million t of asbestos, making it one of the largest asbestos mines in the world. By 2000, the mine had ceased all underground production, and tailings re-processing became the only activity until the site was decommissioned in 2001. As part of the decommissioning process, the underground workings were flooded, with water ingress occurring earlier than expected due to unusually heavy rainfall. Much of the mine's infrastructure, including rails and skips, was removed or scrapped prior to the flooding. As of 2024, the mine water in the vertical shaft stands 107 m below shaft collar and is discharging to the south via the dewatering gallery.Geology
Bulembu is located within the Onverwacht Group of the Barberton Supergroup, a geological formation known for its ancient rocks, including some of the oldest greenstone belts on Earth. The geological conditions of the region are dominated by mafic and ultramafic rocks such as komatiitic basalt and serpentinite with overlying sedimentary and metamorphic layers.Predominately all the workings of the Havelock Mine asbestos deposit are hosted within the deformed serpentinite of the Zwartkoppie Formation, which is part of the Mendon Subgroup. These asbestos-bearing rocks, together with associated minerals such as talc, quartz and carbonate veins, have undergone extensive metamorphism and deformation, which is evident in both the surface and underground workings of the mine.