Jan Coetzee Mine, Nababeep, Okiep Copper District, Namakwa District Municipality, Northern Cape, South Africai

Regional Level Types
Jan Coetzee Mine	Mine
Nababeep	Town
Okiep Copper District	Mining District
Namakwa District Municipality	District Municipality
Northern Cape	Province
South Africa	Country

Copper mine and one of the principal mines in this district, well known for large quartz crystals, located 11 km north of Nababeep.

The Jan Coetzee mine is one of the most famous in the district from the standpoint of mineral specimens, particularly large quartz crystals. It is located about 11 km north of Nababeep. The mine was originally worked as early as 1888 when it was prospected by the Cape Copper Company but then abandoned in 1907 (Anonymous, 1968). Three small adits, several prospecting pits and an 80 meter deep shaft were opened between 1888 and 1894. Some isolated ore bodies were discovered during these times, but no extractive mining was undertaken and the prospect was then abandoned in favor of the Flat Mine. It was re-opened in 1964 by the O'okiep Copper Company when ore reserves of 1.5 millions tons were proven. The mine is located on the farm Jan Coetzee Fontein, which was a portion of the original Nababeep farm. The mine finally closed in 1971. The mine was known by several names, Jan Coetzee's Fontein mine, Jan Coetzee's mine, Kotze's mine and Coetzee's mine.

When the small and relatively short-lived Jan Coetzee Mine was worked between 1964 and 1971, it produced 1,89 million tonnes at 1.06% copper. In 1966 a spectacular quartz crystal pocket was discovered in this mine (von Bezing and Kotze, 1993). Prior to this the mine had been rather unremarkable as far as specimen production was concerned: this find remains unique in the district. While tunnelling away from the shaft on the 88 m level, in a southerly direction, one of the miners, a Mr Kennedy noticed an area of decomposed rock on the sidewall of the drift. While testing for stability with a crowbar, he broke into a chamber measuring 12 x 12 metres across and some 6 metres high. The floor, walls and roof were covered by thousands of quartz crystals of all sizes. Most of the larger crystals were lying on the floor, partially imbedded in a layer of green chlorite 15 cm thick. Smaller second-generation clusters were coating the sidewalls and most of the crystal fragments.

A conservative estimate of the number of single crystals and clusters removed is about 50 000. The largest crystals measure 180 cm and weigh some 250 kg. Most major private and public collections in South Africa now have examples and many specimens have reached Europe and the United States. Large crystals have also been used as gate posts in front of a local hotel, others as decoration on graves! In all, several metric tonnes of quartz crystals were removed. The crystals are usually colorless to smoky, with green chlorite preferentially coating only some faces, dulling the crystals slightly. On the chlorite-coated faces gray calcite (rounded scalenohedra) and small (up to 1cm) prismatic, yellow barite crystals are found on most fragments: this combination makes specimens from the Jan Coetzee pocket easily identifiable. Minute crystals of chalcopyrite are also common, and these may reach 1cm in size. The larger quartz crystals are usually tapering prisms with evidence of basal tectonic fracture and rehealing, resulting in pseudo-doubly terminated crystals. Many of the second-generation quartz crystals are complex and distorted. Calcite, as a massive mineral or as crystals, was also found. As with so many mineral deposits, the mine is closed and the pocket no longer accessible. The dumps are closed to the public but in any event, do not yield any collectable specimens. Specimens still periodically become available from recycled collections.

Although the Jan Coetzee Mine is famous amongst collectors for its quartz crystals, other specimens of note have also been found here. These include chalcopyrite crystals, purple fluorite octahedra (up to 10 cm on edge), showy calcite specimens, sphalerite and dolomite. (Extract from Cairncross, 2004).

A copper deposit.

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