ping delays, of the possibility of hostile enemy action,47
of closed capital markets and, it may be added, of rates of taxation
which made the 'self-financing' of the industry out of earnings
difficult, especially as the price at which the industry disposed of
its output was controlled.48 A rising cost of living and
labour unrest added a new element of disturbance. Certainly from the
shareholders' standpoint, the war was very far from being an occasion
for 'profiteering', but that, of course, did not matter, certainly not
to Ernest Oppenheimer. 'In Rhodesia we have only one problem', he wrote
to Harry Oppenheimer on 19 April 1942, 'and that is to produce the
maximum quantity of base metals. Only when the war is won can we think
again of profits.'
Almost
immediately after the outbreak of war, Rhokana Corporation agreed to
produce 7,900 short tons per month for the Ministry of Supply; as from
1 December, the rate was raised to 9,500 short tons, including 950 tons
from the N'Changa Mine. In August 1939 a pilot plant had started
operating at this mine, but the concentrates produced had to be smelted
at the N'Kana smelter. These concentrates, however, had a high silica
content and affected the efficient working of the N'Kana plant, wliich
was already being affected by the deterioration of the equipment. The
situation during the war years was summed up in the general manager's
report (published together with annual report of the Rhokana
Corporation in 1945) covering the period from 1 July 1939 to 30 June
1945:
. . . By the end of 1940, however, the general deterioration of plant, particularly
the crushing plant, had become so serious that it was necessary to
reduce production to permit some headway to be made with maintenance
and repair work. The production rate was accordingly reduced to an
average of 8,100 short tons per month during 1941, including
approximately 1,200 short tons from N'Changa.
47 Rhokana report for
1945, p. 18 (General manager's review): '. . . The guarding of
vulnerable points in the plant was undertaken by the Defence Force and
in the critical period before and during the East African campaign only
European soldiers were put on for this duty and members of the Defence
Force took it in turn to transfer from their normal occupation to
full-time guard duty for a short period.'
48 Ernest Oppenheimer to the shareholders of Anglo American Corporation at the 22nd ordinary general meeting held on 26 April 1940:
'Prior
to the outbreak of war, the Northern Rhodesia copper companies, as well
as the other Empire producers in Canada and elsewhere, were approached
by the Ministry of Supply in Great Britain with the object of securing
a supply of Empire copper, which would enable the war need of the
Empire to be met at a price that would not be affected by any rise in
world prices which might be expected to follow the outbreak of
hostilities. With this request, the Empire producers immediately
complied. Contracts were made whereby copper is supplied to the
Ministry at fixed prices well below those that have since obtained
elsewhere in the world.'
