On 21 May 1953 there was incorporated the Bancroft Mine Limited,50
so named after the great geologist who had done so much for Northern
Rhodesia, as well as for Anglo American Corporation mining in other
areas. The mine is situated some 14 miles north of N'Changa and from
the very first it was planned on a large scale. The company had a
nominal capital of £5,000,000 and it was
'scheduled to come into production early in 1957 and it is proposed to
mine at the rate of approximately 150,000 short tons of ore per month,
which, it is expected, will result in a production of approximately
43,000 long tons of copper per annum'. So the Rhoanglo report of 1954
summed up: by 1956 it was stated that 'on the recommendation of the
consulting engineers it was decided that the original planned
production of 42,800 long tons of copper per annum, as from January
1957, should be increased to double that tonnage by the beginning of
1957'. The other mine in which the Anglo American Corporation group was
interested was the Kansanshi Mine, the history of which goes back to
the very earliest days of prospecting in Northern Rhodesia. On 27 March
1953 there was registered the Kansanshi Copper Mining Company Limited
which took over the mine and property and surface rights from the
Rhodesia-Katanga Company and the Mwinilunga Mines. Rhoanglo took a 23-8
per cent interest in the new company and the Mufulira company, for its
part, had already in 1951 established a wholly owned subsidiary, the
Chibuluma Mine: this was sold to the shareholders in Mufulira in 1954.
This was followed in 1954 by the establishment of the Baluba and the
Cbambishi mines. In both these companies Rhoanglo took up
shareholdings. Finally, to round off the story of the copper-mining
interests of the Anglo American Corporation group, it should be added
that in the financial year 1952-3 Rhoanglo acquired a considerable
holding in Tanganyika Concessions Limited, which holds valuable
shareholdings in the ex-Belgian Congo copper-mines of the Katanga area.
In connexion with copper-mining, also, there was founded in 1947 the
Rhodesia Copper Refineries Limited. This purchased from the Rhokana
Corporation the electrolytic refinery at the N'Kana Mine with the
intention of doubling the then capacity of the plant; the ordinary
shares were taken up by the Rhokana Corporation and the N'Changa Mine.
On the technological side, there was created in October 1952 the
Rhoanglo Mine Services Limited, which, as the Rhoanglo report for 1954
explained,
50 For the fascinating history behind this enterprise, vide C. P. Nichols: 'The Bancroft Mine—a talc of tribulation and triumph' in 6 Optima, no. 3, pp. 65-70 (September 1956).
