The Rail Line: In 1903 the O.M.E.G. awarded the contract to construct a private
railway line that was to run from Swakopmund to Tsumeb to the firm of
Arthur Koppel AG of Berlin. They elected to operate independently from
the state Rail Company, and they also chose to make use of a 60-cm
narrow gauge track. The construction of the rail line was fraught with
problems. The Herero uprising of 1904 brought with it a defection of the
native labour force, so the Germans shipped in Italians to work as
labourers but the conditions overcame them and many paid for their own
tickets 'back home.' The Germans then put Herero prisoners of war
to work on the line which was eventually was completed on 24 August
1906. It was the longest narrow-gauge (60cm) railway track in the world.
1906-1940 Production
Under O.M.E.G. From the beginning of the operation not all of the ore mined was of
a high enough grade to be profitable to export in that form.
A smelter plant was needed and early in 1907 the
erection of two copper-lead blast furnaces began; which were
commissioned in September.
The first fiscal year of the OMEG was April 1907 to March 1908 and
saw 25,700 tons of ore being exported to Europe, returning a profit of over 1 million Marks.
WW1 caused a down turn in activities at Tsumeb and
from 14 July 1914 until some time in 1921 the smelter was out of
commission. The 1920s saw a flourish of mining activity with deeper
levels being exploited. The mine's output peaked in 1930, but the
Great Depression caused metal prices to collapse to 53 British
Pounds per ton for copper and 16 G.B.P. per ton for lead, so that no
dividend could be paid that year. On 1 August 1932 the O.M.E.G.
ceased its mining operations. By 1937 the copper price was
fluctuating between G.B.P. 44 to G.B.P. 70. The mine needed to be
de-watered and produced 46,500 short tons that year. Production
levels increased until about one year after the outbreak of WW2,
when on 25 September 1940 the
mining at Tsumeb was abandoned and the assets of the OMEG, being a
German interest, were placed under the control of the Custodian of
Enemy Property
Just for the Record: Between the years 1906
and 1940 under the O.M.E.G. the Tsumeb mine produced
2,550,000 short tons of ore containing 210,000 tons Copper, 451,230
tons lead and 215,470 tons zinc. 1,023,000 tons of this was
comprised of high-grade sorted ore for direct export, the remainder
being processed through the Tsumeb concentrator and smelter and
yielding 140,300 tons of copper-lead matte and 48,500 tons of lead
bullion. The total sales of export ore, copper matte and lead
bullion was 226,347,225 Marks or about 12 million British Pounds.
1946 - 1998 - Production
under Tsumeb Corporation Ltd. ( T.C.L.)
(Later - Goldfields Namibia Ltd.)
who placed the mine up for sale. A syndicate was formed that
included Newmont Mining Corp., American Metal Co., Selection Trust,
British South Africa Co., Union Corp., South West Africa Co., and
the Okeip Copper Co.. The sale was competed in 1947 for just over 1
Million British Pounds. The syndicate was named Tsumeb Corporation Ltd.
The post war
investment into the mining operations of T.C.L. were considerable
and the town of Tsumeb enjoyed a boom that would last for many
years. In 1984 the South African mining giant Goldfields purchased
Tsumeb Corporation Ltd. and issued shares on the newly formed
Namibia Stock Exchange.
1998 - The Demise of Tsumeb Corporation
Limited (
Goldfields Namibia Ltd.)
The 1990s were
poor years for copper
with prices experiencing all-time lows that caused many base metal mines
throughout the world to close. T.C.L.s Management
team was one of the most experienced in the
industry and sought every which way to reduce operational costs as
they watched copper prices plummet to under U$1,400 per ton. Sadly their efforts were thwarted when during August 1996 the mine
workers union declared an illegal-wild-cat strike on the T.C.L. mines. The
picketers
resorted to criminal violence and prevented the Essential Services Staff from
entering the mine areas and attending to their duties, some of whom
were attacked and maimed with machetes and or clubs. One of
Essential Services that was prevented was the ongoing dewatering of the mine. In a few short days the
famous De Wet Shaft had flooded. T.C.L. (Goldfields Namibia Ltd.)
eventually were forced into insolvency. The damage to the Namibian
economy was considerable as many of the companies that had been
suppliers to the TCL mining group were also forced into closing
their doors. The TCL liquidators
where unsuccessful in attracting buyers from the established world
wide and Southern African mining houses and the politics of
the day saw a newly formed Namibian 'Black Empowerment' company named Ongopolo
Mining and Processing Ltd. obtaining the necessary finances
supported by Government guarantees with which they were able to purchase the Goldfields
Namibia Ltd. assets for a
nominal fee.
The years that followed witnessed the ongoing
sales of the 'old TCLs' assets and equipment, and by April 2006, at
a time when copper was enjoying an all time high price of US$7,147
per ton, the Ongopolo Mining & Processing Company found itself
facing bankruptcy. The company was unable to repay its substantial
bank loans, that enjoyed guarantees by the Namibian Government. The
audited statements of June 2005 showed liabilities in excess of
N$520 million. In April of 2006 Ongopolo
Mining and Processing managed to
sign an agreement to sell the majority shareholding to the London
listed company Weatherly International Plc.
A local union leader was heard to make the comment
that they "the Union" had had to 'swallow their pride'.
In December 2008 with Copper having fallen to below
US$4,000 per ton, Weatherly MIning suspended mining activities.
Just for the Record: Between the years of 1905 to 1990 24,6 million
tonnes of ore where mined from the De Wet
Shaft that produced 1,7 million tonnes of
copper, 2,8 million tonnes of lead and 0,9 million tonnes of zinc. The Tsumeb Ore Body
was a subject of fascination with the geological, metallurgical
and mining community owing to the
diversity of minerals that it contained. A total
of 226 minerals of which 40 were unique to the Tsumeb Mine. Minerals
as diverse as antimony, arsenic, silver, cadmium, cobalt,
copper, gallium, germanium, gold, iron, lead, mercury, nickel, tin, molybdenum,
vanadium and zinc were found. The collectors of gem-stones were also
catered for as dioptase, malachite and tourmaline were also
discovered in the mid thirties levels of the mine.
Tsumeb
Mine A History Part 1
Acknowledgements and further reading: G1, G2, H9, H20, H21, P2,
>
By Authority of the German Reich:
