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Copper ingot smelted by the Cape Copper Company of Briton Ferry Copper Works and recovered from the wreck of the S.S. ST. GEORGE. The St. George was wrecked off St. Agnes Head, North Cornwall on the 28 November 1882, outward bound from Swansea for Nantes, France, with '500 tons of coal, 100 tons of copper ingots'.

[Description developed in collaboration with members of Chai & Chat (Swansea CVS), July 2024]

Copper ingot smelted at Briton Ferry Copper Works, near Swansea, owned by the London-based Cape Copper Company. Smelting is a process involving heating and melting ore to obtain the metal it contains.

The ingot was recovered from the wreck of the SS St. George. The ship was wrecked off St. Agnes Head, Cornwall on 28th November 1882, outward bound from Swansea to Nantes with 500 tons of coal and 100 tons of copper ingots.

Some of the ore for this ingot came from mines owned by the Cape Copper Company in the Nama-kwa/Namaqualand region of Cape Colony, in modern-day South Africa. Nama-kwa/Namaqualand is the home of the Nama or Khoekhoe people, who had used copper prior to European colonisation of their lands. Cape Colony was colonised by the Dutch from 1652 and by Britain in the years 1795 - 1803 and 1806 - 1910.

Cape Copper Company owned the mines of Nababeep, Springbok, O’okiep and Spectakel. African labourers, both local and migrant people, made up the largest proportion of workers employed at the mines. They mainly worked above ground, performing work such as breaking and sorting rocks. Men and women worked side by side, with women often carrying their children while working.

Below ground, it was mostly British workers mining the ore, working alongside a smaller number of African workers. Cape Copper Company recruited experienced white British copper miners and paid them more than African workers.

‘CCC’ stands for Cape Copper Company, while ‘BS’ stands for ‘best selected’, meaning the ingot was of high quality.