During the colonial period, mining operations in the region generated substantial amounts of money for their shareholders. Tsumeb is discussed here as a typical example of colonial exploitation of mineral resources.
Francis Galton and C.J. Andersson were the first Europeans to report the occurrence of copper in the Otavi Mountainland of northern Namibia, where the Bushmen and Ovambo people were trading in copper and other goods (Barnes, n.d.; Gebhard, 1999). The South West Africa Company (SWAC) obtained the mining rights from the German government and, in 1892, sent an expedition under Matthew Rodgers to the Otavi Mountainland, where a number of shafts were sunk at Tsumeb,, Nageib and Asis (Kombat) (Barnes, n.d.). In 1900, SWAC initiated the formation of the Otavi Minen- und Eisenbahngesellschaft (OMEG), which acquired the mineral rights from the former company.
Between 1903 and 1906 OMEG developed the Tsumeb Mine and built a 566 km long railway line from Swakopmund to Tsumeb. The first smelter plant consisting of two Pb-Cu blast furnaces was built in 1907 (Barnes, n.d.; Schneider & Seeger, 1992). Mine operations between 1907 and 1947 were interrupted by the First World War, the Great Depression and the Second World War. After the latter war, OMEG assets passed into the hands of the “Custodian of Enemy Property” set up by the Allied Forces. A syndicate, mainly consisting of foreign companies, bought out OMEG for the equivalent of 2,020,000 South African Rand and renamed it Tsumeb Corporation Limited (TCL). TCL shipped their first ore in March of 1947. During the 1950s the Tsumeb concentrates were shipped via the port of Walvis Bay and smelted and refined overseas. However, due to increasing transportation costs, a new smelter was built between 1960 and 1962 (Schneider & Seeger, 1992). The smelter plant produced blister copper (98% purity), lead (99.99% purity) and other products (Arsenic Trioxide (99.0% As2O3), Refined Cadmium (99.95% purity), Sodium Antimonate (47.50% Sb)), as well as germanium and gallium. Silver and gold were included in the blister copper, which was refined overseas by means of electrolysis (Schneider & Seeger, 1992; Weatherly, 2008). Mining operations continued at Tsumeb under TCL until 1996 when the mine closed. It was later taken over by Ongopolo Mining and Processing Limited (OMPL), a Namibian company comprising ex-TCL-management and the Workers Union.
Between 1907 and 1996 the Tsumeb Mine produced an average of 351,000 tonnes of ore per annum (tpa) between (Fig. 5.3; Schneider & Seeger, 1992; Kamona & Günzel, 2007) from more than 30 Mt of ore with average grades of 10.4 % Pb, 4.42 % Cu, 3.49% Zn and 125 ppm Ag (Lombaard et al., 1986; Wartha & Genis, 1992; Mines Directorate, 1992-2000). During the period that Tsumeb was in production, it can be argued that there were no direct benefits to the indigenous people of Namibia. The amount of money that both, TCL and OMEG generated from Tsumeb is substantial, and the remaining benefits to the people of Namibia can be seen in the town of Tsumeb. It is, however, clear that more money left the country, compared to what stayed behind. TCL acquired a few corporate farms around Tsumeb, where people were employed. However, once again Africans were mainly engaged as labourers. These farms grew various crops such as maize and vegetables and also kept cattle for both, beef and milk.
The other properties owned by OMEG were the Kombat, Abenab, Berg Aukas, Otjihase and Matchless mines. These were also taken over by TCL. Kombat (Fig. 5.4) had an average production of 13,000 tons of copper metal and 5,000 tons of lead metal per year. Except for an interruption during the 1978 flooding, Kombat produced consistently over its life of mine. Otjihase produced about 17,000 tpa of copper concentrate, which was transported to Tsumeb for smelting. In 1988 the Tsumeb Smelter (Fig. 5.4) reached a record production of over a million tons of metal. At this time TCL’s revenue came from various commodities, mainly copper (54.2%), lead (20.3%) and by-product silver (19.6%) with lesser amounts from pyrite which was sold for the production of sulphuric acid, arsenic, by-product gold, cadmium, and sodium antimonate.
http://wwwisis.unam.na/theses/nujoma2009.pdf
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