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Events/Company founded · 1897

Ashanti Goldfields listed and Obuasi opened

Company founded, 11 June 1897 listing; 24 December 1897 operations, Ghana.

What happened

Edwin Cade listed Ashanti Goldfields Corporation on the London Stock Exchange on 11 June 1897 and set up operations at Obuasi on 24 December that year. The mine yielded 2,544 ounces in its first year and 4,673 ounces in the second.1,2

Why it matters

It marks the start of Ashanti Goldfields' operations at Obuasi.1,2

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. San Francisco ships US$724 million of treasure in 16 years

    Eastern ports took US$462 million, England US$168 million and China US$68 million.3,4

  2. Holtermann reef gold specimen unearthed

    The photographs form part of the Holtermann Collection of goldfield life.5,6

  3. Homestake Mine: inception

    Homestake Mine: inception.7

  4. Gold found in the Kimberley (Halls Creek)

    It was the first Western Australian gold excitement, before the 1890s rushes.8,9

  5. Gold find at Southern Cross

    A find at Southern Cross caused excitement in 1888, before the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie rushes.10

  6. Jameson Raid

    Jameson Raid.11

  7. Steamship Portland docks at Seattle with a ton of Klondike gold

    The ship carried 68 miners from St. Michael, and news of the gold set off the stampede.12,13,14

  8. Goldfields Water Supply Scheme opens

    It let the dry goldfields grow after the 1890s rush.15,16,17

Open the full timeline

Where next

Mines

Located inObuasiA mine from the same area and mineral story: Obuasi.1

Places

Located inObuasiSee the place where this happened: Obuasi.1

Sources

  1. Ashanti Goldfields Company Limited Encyclopedia of Company Histories (Reference for Business)
  2. Obuasi (item Q1020901), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  3. Peabody A., Early voyages to California (treasure shipped from San Francisco 1854-1869) Library of Congress (Essex Institute Historical Collections)
  4. Wikidata item Q62 (San Francisco)
  5. The Holtermann Collection State Library of New South Wales
  6. Hill End (item Q14202724), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  7. Wikidata item Q2351504 (Homestake Mine: inception)
  8. The Rush for Gold (WA Goldfields) Western Australian Museum
  9. Halls Creek (item Q992686), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  10. The Rush for Gold Western Australian Museum
  11. Wikidata item Q916340 (Jameson Raid)
  12. Klondike Gold Rush begins on July 17, 1897 (Essay 699) HistoryLink.org
  13. History and Culture, Klondike Gold Rush - Seattle Unit National Historical Park US National Park Service
  14. Wikidata item Q5083 (Seattle)
  15. Building a Pipeline (WA Goldfields) Western Australian Museum
  16. CY O'Connor's Golden Pipeline celebrates 120 years of service (media statement, 24 Jan 2023) Government of Western Australia
  17. Mundaring Weir (item Q1800878), coordinate location P625 Wikidata

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0.