The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-04 00:00:00

COPPER IN NATAL.

By far the most important mineralogical discovery
yet made in this colony is that which has come to
light during the present week. Hitherto the dis-
coveries of copper have been out of the colony and
at some distance from our port. Griqualand, on,
the south, and Zululand, on the north, were the
nearest localities where mineral wealth was known
substantially to exist. It may be remembered that
the mines in the first of these places owed their
discovery to the rude green paint used by the na-
tives for discoloring their faces. The attention of
Mr. Shepstone, Secretary for Native Affairs, was
attracted by this circumstance to a similar inci-
dent, noticed by him 18 years ago within the
boundaries of Natal. in course of time he suc-
ceeded in identifying the exact locality, and Mr.
Warne, a practical miner of 30 years' expe-
rience, has just returned from a nine days' pro-
specting trip, bringing with him about three cwt.
of metalliferous rock, consisting chiefly of carbonate
of copper mixed with quartz and friable clay. These
specimens are poor, being from near the surface,
but they give every promise of a richer yield be-
neath. These are taken from a vein eight feet wide,
running from north east to south west, and probably
extending for some distance, as similar indications
have been found at other places. The most impor-
tant feature of the discovery, however, is its near-
ness to the coast, the lode not being more than
seven miles from the sea, and little more than that
distance in the tidal rise of the Umkomazi, where
the river becomes navigable and accessible by small
vessels. A township has already been laid out at
this little harbour, which is only 30 miles south of
Durham. The distance of the lode by land is only
about 27 miles, 13 of which is a dead level. It is
impossible to overrate the value of this discovery to
the colony in general, and to Durham in particular,
should the lode prove, as is fully expected, to con-
tain rich copper ore. We may state that the land
all round is set apart for the use of the natives, and
Government will, therefore, have the disposal of the
affair in their own hands. In all probability these
mineral indications are but precursors of further dis-
coveries. They occur in a range of hills which runs
parallel with the coast from the Amapondaland,
through Natal into Zululand. We know that at
the southern extremity copper of fine quality exists.
We now find that copper is to be found at a
higher point near the Ilovo. Rumours of similar
traces have been spoken of in the Inanda ,
yet more to the north. An intelligent travel-
ler tells us that just over the Tugela in Zulu-
land, a race of ancient native smelters still reside.
These people were spared during the massacres of
Chaka on account of their usefulness, and the ap-
pearance of the country in that direction indicates
great mineral richness. It is not extravagant, there-
fore, to believe that the time has arrived when the
hidden treasures of the rocks in this part of the
world, so long concealed, are at last about to be ex-
plored and ascertained. Government has placed
£l,OOO on the estimates for next year in aid of
mineralogical explorations. We may mention, by
the way, that an outcrop of coal shale has been ob-
served near the Ilovo.—Nutul Mercury, Aug. 10.

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