Historical accounts of the Maitland argentiferous galena deposit, Eastern Cape – the first lead discovery in South Africa (1792)

The Maitland prospect is a polymetallic Pb-Ag-Cu-Zn deposit located in the Eastern Cape, some 35 km west of Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). It consists of quartz-calcite veins with argentiferous galena, together with copper sulphides and sphalerite, hosted by marbles of the Neoproterozoic to Early Palaeozoic Gamtoos Complex. It is of great historical interest as the first known lead prospect in South Africa, and early descriptions of its geology and mineralization are given here. It was first prospected in 1792, by a Major Von Dehn who found rich Pb-Ag ores. It is suggested that the Maitland polymetallic deposit may have been originally discovered and exploited by the indigenous Xhosa clan, the AbaThembu, who manufactured copper-silver ear rings which were described from this area by the Swedes Anders Sparrman and Carl Peter Thunberg in 1772. The Maitland prospect was visited by Englishman John Barrow in 1797, and by the Germans Hinrich Lichtenstein and Baron von Dankelmann in 1803 and 1804 respectively, who had further assays made of the ores in Germany. The economic prospects of the deposit were encouragingly described by Centlivres Chase in 1843. The Maitland Mining Company, formed in 1846, issued Ł10,000 worth of shares. During the development stage, the Maitland mines were visited from 1845 to 1857 by the road builder Andrew Geddes Bain, the physicians William Atherstone and Richard Rubidge, and the geologist Andrew Wyley. The mining operations were unprofitable, and the mines were closed. Renewed prospecting was carried out from 1924 to 1931, and from 1970 to 1975, without success. In over 200 years of exploration, the Maitland deposit has been repeatedly investigated, but the lack of continuity of the mineralization at depth, and the lack of rich mineralized lodes, has meant that it is completely uneconomic, even for a small-scale mining operation.