This January I’m launching an online course for people passionate about History. This isn’t a historian telling you things, it’s designed to turn you from a vociferous reader into someone who is starting to think like a historian themselves… Sign up details: introtohistory.eventbrite.com

I want to emphasis the conclusion to our article:

Me and @masak003.bsky.social have a new article about the 1972 Hwange Colliery disaster in colonial Zimbabwe, one of the world's worst mining disasters. You can download and read it for free here: duncanmoney.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...

In the final part of this series, we look at how the mining sector’s past could undermine its efforts to save the planet.

An excellent read; Keith Gildart’s review essay in The English Historical Review focusing on a collection of recent historical works on aspects of the 1984/5 British Miners Strike and remembering that 40years on. Incl. @nataliethomlinson.bsky.social FYI @ewangibbs.bsky.social @sslh.bsky.social

If you use digital newspaper collections this new OA paper is for you - it’s full of great insights into how to understand what’s in them and the many hidden perils of digital search (like the systemically poorer OCR for cheaper and more left-leaning newspapers - who knew?). Please share

We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing: a 🧵 1/n Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820 Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/... Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...

Fascinating article by Claire Sabel (@scarcerc.bsky.social) on the early modern gemstones trade, pointing out how gemstones differed from other rare goods: "Unlike exotic plants or animals, minerals could not be transplanted to be studied or cultivated in situ." www.iias.asia/the-newslett...

Interesting detail from this thesis: The Mineworkers Union of Namibia set up a company to reopen three closed copper mines in 1999 after Namibia's government provided loans and guarantees for the company. I think it's the only example a trade union involved in running a mine in the region.

A court appeal with 140,000 claimants heard from people living in Kabwe -- one of the world’s most polluted towns. Mukanzi Musanga spoke to some of the mothers in that case. Their children are among the 95% of children in the area who have dangerously high levels of lead in their blood.

Went for a walk to take my mind off work but I can't seem to avoid it.

Each of these dots on the map has its own history, and I intend to cover all of them Cities/towns may have been the first complex societies, long before kingdoms and empires. Any discussion of African history would be incomplete without them

#OreCup Finals: It’s copper ore native #Copper vs molybdenum (& rhenium) ore #Molybdenite. Both are shiny, but only one can be the Ore Mineral of the Year Vote:

I sometimes wonder how much time I have wasted working out how to disable unhelpful features that Word automatically introduces. In this case, it's track change cards that appear whenever you move the cursor over edited text. If anyone knows how to remove these, I would be very grateful.

All Protocol Observed Welcome to Issue 219 of The Continent Protests, an internet blackout, and deadly force marked Tanzania’s Election Day. Once online again, 37 readers shared what they witnessed. Read their stories: bit.ly/219_TC

I'm quoted in the @dailymaverick.co.za talking about mining, climate change and changes in the industry: "Even if the economic value of the industry increases, the total volume of stuff mined is going to decrease for the first time in recent human history." www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...

British press cartoons regularly depicted mining companies as African children in the 19th and early 20th century. In this case, two competing tin companies in colonial Nigeria in 1913:

I have a new article arguing that connections across empire were uneven. Some regions became closely connected, and others did not. I look at how these connections changed migration, work, household formation, politics and disease at a very local level: upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/hi...

Shaun Milton reviews Saima Ndahangwapo’s new book Defending the Investment about uranium mining in Namibia, arguing it makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the history of decolonisation in Africa. roape.net/2025/11/05/d...

I have a new article arguing that connections across empire were uneven. Some regions became closely connected, and others did not. I look at how these connections changed migration, work, household formation, politics and disease at a very local level: upjournals.up.ac.za/index.php/hi...

My book Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy is out with @hurstpublishers.bsky.social. It has been shaped by the support of a great community of scholars - grateful for generous endorsements from @rahulraothariel.bsky.social @katesde.bsky.social @kalramnath.bsky.social Order here - shorturl.at/55NjW

Feels a bit weird talking into the void but if you are interested in my PhD research please feel free to ask me questions! And there is a summary here: doi.org/10.17863/CAM...

Exciting thing alert - The next pilot of The Friday Paper comes out this very Friday, 7 November. To get your hands on some quality South African journalism here's the link tally.so/r/mKbdeD

You’ve heard of the #MinCup — now get ready for the #OreCup, which starts today! Our first pick is #copper, which humans have been mining, using, and discarding for thousands of years: eos.org/articles/500...

I cannot believe that I didn't know Namibia's first president Sam Nujoma wrote a masters' thesis about copper mining in Southern Africa after retiring from politics!

The archive of Barings Bank (1762-1994) is steadily being digitised and is freely available online Quite a bit of mining stuff in there: baring.access.preservica.com/archive

I am contractually obliged to vote for copper here.

Naturally occurring pure copper is called “native” copper & is formed in veins & fractures by super-heated mineral-rich fluids often associated with volcanic activity. My sample shown below. Get the lead out & vote #copper! #OreCup25 #MinCup25 ⚒️ sci-fi 🧪 🖖🏼 scifi Geosciences #WomenInSTEM geology 🔭🪐

Britain has its own weird relationships with ex-colonies, but I cannot imagine the mayor of London suddenly popping up in Nairobi or Freetown to give a speech about the Second World War.

Anyone here familiar with Newton's Principa? I read online that he gave an estimate of the age of the earth based on cooling estimates. It's a huge book and I have no idea where it is in there, if it even *is* there. Anyone know which chapter/section Newton discusses this?

Tell people when you like what they do, people.

Got such a nice compliment on my work this morning (on LinkedIn, but let's not talk about that). Felt so encouraged.

The wonders of modern technology: I can wake up, type "Send newspaper" into my phone and instantly receive a copy of @thecontinent.org.

It frustrates me that fields such as history are increasingly becoming something of a free-for-all. Imagine the reverse, in which a bona fide history professor publishes a polemic book claiming to ‘lift the veil on secrets’ of, say, structural engineering. It’d be considered absurd, and rightly so.

Diamond prices are in such a historic slump that Angola has doubled its diamond exports within a year, but the total value of those exports has declined: www.reuters.com/world/africa...

Evening. We're at the Stadium of Light now, but rather than focusing on the ground, we're focusing on what's under it! This was the site of one the largest, modern and the deepest coal mine in the world when it opened in 1835. It also had one of the longest lifespans, closing within living memory.

All Protocol Observed Welcome to Issue 218 of The Continent El Fasher has fallen — the last Darfuri city to resist the Rapid Support Forces. After a 500-day siege, the Sudanese army withdrew, leaving 250,000 civilians at the mercy of genocidal militias. bit.ly/218_TC

Watch out for Ea Nasir this Halloween!

On 22 November, I'll be giving an online talk as part of the Mineral Expertise series at the University of Vienna: "Mining the Past: What is the role of historians in the mining industry?" You can sign up here: scarce.univie.ac.at/events/singl...

Fitting advert in the airport in Zambia's biggest mining region:

"UN refugee agency official Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet said that the new arrivals told stories of widespread ethnic and politically motivated killings, including reports of people with disabilities shot dead because they were unable to flee" this keeps getting worse www.ctvnews.ca/world/articl...

A history of currencies and monetary systems in the southern half of Africa www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/a-history-...

An anatomy of an old-fashioned scam to fleece South African pensioners with fake mining investments in 'Acacia Gold': www.boom2dust.nl/blog/acacia-...

Guilty as charged. My next article:

This is an important article that uses a debate over Koreans in 20th century Japan to make broader points about the use of history by non-experts, the peer review process and the kind of claims people make about the past.

Join us for the launch of Henry Dee’s ‘Militant Migrants: Clements Kadalie, the ICU and the Mass Movement of Black Workers in Southern Africa, 1896-1951’. Published with @livunipress.bsky.social. Marx Memorial Library, 29 November sslh.org.uk/2025/10/27/b...

Looks like an interesting conference in Ghent on 4 December on 'Resources in Africa'. Several papers on mining in the draft programme and its free to attend online: www.africaplatform.ugent.be/event/intern...

Another positive review of our book 'Born with a Copper Spoon', this time in the Journal of Australasian Mining History. I'm very pleased the reviewer Ben Mountford highlighted this paragraph from the introduction, which gets to the heart of why copper is important: