Bushtick Mine was a

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

mining operation established in the 1920s and operative through early 1950s in Essexvale District,

Matabeleland Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

(now

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

). It was established by the

British South Africa Company The British South Africa Company (BSAC or BSACo) was chartered in 1889 following the amalgamation of Cecil Rhodes' Central Search Association and the London-based Exploring Company Ltd, which had originally competed to capitalize on the expecte ...

. The mine was a substantial producer of gold and, initially, thought to be part of a significant deposit of the precious metal in the area. This did not prove to be the case and after the mine was closed its facilities were to become the basis of

Falcon College Falcon College (or simply Falcon) is an independent boarding school for boys and girls aged 12–18 in the southern Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe. It was founded in 1954 near Essexvale, Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now Esigodini, Zimba ...

, which was a higher education level school for boys aged 12-18, but now incorporates girls of the same age. It is located 12 kilometers from

Esigodini Esigodini, originally known as Essexvale, is a town in the Matabeleland South Province of Zimbabwe. It is the administrative centre for Umzingwane District, one of the seven administrative districts in Matabeleland South. It was originally an ...

(old Essexvale).

Frederick Courtney Selous Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Given name Nobility = Anhalt-Harzgerode = * Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) = Austria = * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria fro ...

, the noted scout, hunter, conservationist and adventurer, had his farm nearby. The foundations of the house can be viewed on Google Earth if one follows the road west from Falcon College to Mike Mylnes' farm, then over the river and north along the Lunga River. At a bend in the river where Selous used to view elephants from his verandah one can make out the vague outline of the foundations of his house.

External links

Falcon CollegeBritish South Africa Company
{{Coord, 20, 12, 31, S, 28, 58, 11, E, display=title Gold mines in Zimbabwe