Ghaamsberg is a mountain in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. situated just east of

Aggeneys Aggeneys is a mining town established in 1976 on a farm of that name, situated between Pofadder and Springbok in the Northern Cape, South Africa. Origin of the name It has been stated that "no-one is quite certain of the origin of the name Ag ...

, in the

Namakwa District Municipality The Namakwa District Municipality () is one of the 5 districts of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of Namakwa is Springbok and the region is also known as Little Namaqualand. As of 2011, a majority of its 108,118 residents s ...

of the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley, South Africa, Kimberley. It includes ...

province, 33 km to the south of the border with

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 ...

. Its summit is 1148 metres above sea level. It is noted for its biological diversity. The unique ecologies on the various inselbergs, peaks, hills and plains in the vicinity, having varied rocky and shallow soil substrates, support a wide diversity of plants, animals, birds and insects, including rare and endemic species, a number of them threatened.Cohen, Callan, Claire Spottiswoode and Jonathan Rossouw (2006) Southern African Birdfinder , pages 80-82 The writer William Charles Scully wrote that, “for sheer uncompromising aridity, for stark grotesque naked horror, these mountains stand probably unsurpassed on the face of the globe.” This mountain should not be confused with

Gamsberg The Gamsberg is a mountain in the Appenzell Alps, overlooking the region of Walenstadt in the canton of St. Gallen. Located in the Alvier group it is the culminating point of the range lying between Lake Walenstadt and Toggenburg. The summ ...

, a mountain in Namibia.

Gamsberg Mine

In 2006, there were proposals for an open-cast

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

mine on its summit. In 2011, the

Vedanta Resources Vedanta Resources Limited is a diversified mining company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest mining and non-ferrous metals company in India and has mining operations in Australia and Zambia and oil and gas operations in ...

bought the undeveloped mine from Anglo American. The first blast off of Phase 1 was in July 2015, with an access ramp being completed in April 2017. In November 2017, Vedanta Zinc International (VZI) announce a collaboration with

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

and mining software develope
MineRP
The initial stage of this collaboration will be part of the "Smart Ore Movement" launch at the Gamsberg mine. The mine was officially opened on Thursday 28 February 2019 by South African President

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

Gamsberg Mine Landslide

On 17 November 2020, a mining-related "geotechnical incident" caused a landslide and 10 miners to become trapped; with mining halted, eight miners were rescued, one died and one body was missing. On 18 January 2021, a press release stated mining operations had resumed.

References

External links

Hydrogeology of Groundwater - Bushmanland
Mountains of South Africa Namaqualand Landforms of the Northern Cape {{NorthernCape-geo-stub