The Aftermath by Samuel C. Florman

Author:Samuel C. Florman [Florman, Samuel C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

"We're on a roll," Richards roared with delight, "and while we're talking about quarrying, we might as well get into mining." With this he turned to Peter Mavimbela, the head of the miners' union. "What do you think, Peter?" he asked. "To get our industrial revolution underway, what we need is iron and coal, coal and iron, preferably close together and preferably not too far out in the boondocks. No matter what processes we decide to use in making steel— and, Ichiro, with your guidance we'll be talking about that in due course—we know what the basic raw materials must be, and we can't have them too far apart from each other. Transporting these materials is going to be a big problem when we first get started. It's not like the good old days when long freight trains rumbled into Richards Bay bringing tons of coal and ore for shipment overseas."

"You don't need to remind me about what it pleases you to call the good old days," Peter Mavimbela said dourly. He was a tall man, but stooped and gaunt, with dark, dreamy eyes that belied his practical, political approach to life and to the issue under debate. He seemed about to launch into a discourse on mining under the apartheid government, but then thought better of it and spoke to the technical point at hand. "I think I can find you a place—or possibly two places—that will be suitable. But there are a couple of things that we ought to get straight at the outset."

Alf Richards could tell that in Mavimbela he was dealing with a rugged individual, almost belligerent, a very different sort from the diplomatic Simon Kambule. There was a sudden feeling of suspense among the group, as if a serious confrontation might be brewing.

"Okay," Alf said. "What is it that we have to get straight?"

"First," Peter replied, "understand that this is not going be an efficient operation. We—like the farmers and timber workers and everybody else—have practically no tools. And when we finally get some, I am certain that they will be of relatively poor, or primitive quality. So we cannot go digging down into the depths of the earth. We'll have to begin by getting what we can from the surface. Where this is not possible, we will cut parallel tunnels into the hills and leave large pillars of material in place as supports for the tunnel roof. That way we won't have to install timbers, which are not available in any case. So, we'll be leaving lots of material in the ground; but that will have to do for a beginning."

"What's your other concern?" Alf Richards asked.

"My men," Mavimbela said, with barely concealed emotion. "In those 'good old days,' as you call them, the miners of South Africa were obliged to travel far from their families and live in prison-like dormitories. Now, I expect that decent housing will be provided for them—and their families—within a reasonable distance from the mines."

"That's no problem, Peter," the chairman said.

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