The Navachab Gold Mine is an open-pit gold mine situated near Karibib, in the

Erongo Region Erongo is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. The capital is Swakopmund. It is named after Mount Erongo, a well-known landmark in Namibia and in this area. Erongo contains the municipalities of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Henties Bay and Omaruru, as ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. The operation is owned by QKR.
QKR website, accessed: 8 July 2014 Navachab, the oldest gold mine in Namibia, takes its name from the local Navachab farm, where the gold deposit was found. The deposit is located 6 km south of the Okahandja-

Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...

road.

History

The first gold discoveries in Namibia were made in 1899. Gold mining began in the country in 1933, but was later abandoned because of low grades.Country report: Namibia
AngloGold Ashanti website, accessed: 8 August 2010 The Navachab gold deposit was discovered in October 1984 as a result of an exploration programme conducted. An appraisal was carried out in 1986, followed by a feasibility study in 1987, which determined to proceed with the development of the mine. Construction work at the site began in 1988 and was completed within 21 months. Production started at Navachab in 1989, pouring its first gold bar in December 1989. Originally jointly owned by the ''Erongo Exploration and Mining Company'' (70%), the ''Metal Mining Company of Canada'' (20%) and ''Rand Mines Exploration'',

AngloGold AngloGold Ashanti Limited is a South Africa, South African gold mining company, with global operations. With a diverse portfolio of cooperation, projects, and exploration activities, AngloGold Ashanti was formed in 2004 by the merger of AngloG ...

acquired a 70% interest in the mine in 1998, which it increased to a 100% the following year. In 2004, AngloGold and Ashanti merged to form AngloGold Ashanti. The mine is no longer the only gold mine in Namibia. In 2003, AngloGold made the decision to switch to owner-mining instead of using contractors. The decision was made after the life of the mine could be extended considerably. It was later claimed by some former contract employees that they had been promised permanent jobs with AngloGold after the switch but had not received them. In 2009, the mine employed 578 people, all of which were permanent employees.Annual Report 2009
AngloGold Ashanti website, accessed: 27 July 2010 For the first time since the start of operations at Navachab, the mine experienced a fatal accident on 2 June 2009 when a drill-rig operator was fatally injured. Navachab was acquired by QKR from AngloGold Ashanti in June 2014. QKR is owned mostly by the

Qatar Investment Authority The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA; ) is Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. The QIA was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 to strengthen the country's economy by diversifying into new asset classes. In November 2024, the QIA had an estimated $526 ...

's ''Qatar Holding LLC'' and Kulczyk Investments.

Production

Production figures of the recent past were:

References

External links

AngloGold Ashanti website

''Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States website''
Gold
Geological Survey of Namibia website
Controls of gold-quartz vein formation during regional folding in amphibolite-facies, marble-dominated metasediments of the Navachab Gold Mine in the Pan-African Damara Belt, Namibia
{{AngloGold Ashanti Gold mines in Namibia Surface mines in Namibia AngloGold Ashanti Buildings and structures in Erongo Region 1989 establishments in South West Africa