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Some information about the coppermine at Sinclair
At Sinclair you find one of the oldest coppermines of the country - it all started back in 1860 when the scottisch
geologist Sinclair came to Namibia to search for minerals. From the local Namapeople he got the information that there
is copper on this farm and so he began with his research and in 1870 he started mining. He transported the copperore
with oxwagons almost 650km to Southafrica - over the Oranjeriver to Okiep and then via Steinkopf to Springbok.
When the germans arrived in the country in 1884 they implemented the german "Bergbaurecht" and in 1913 they started mining
again. They also transported the copperore with oxwagons - first to Aus and from there it was loaded on the train and
went to Lüderitz. In Lüderitz it went with the ship to Germany to the Ruhrgebiet.
In 1938 the mine closed down and reopened again in 1961, when the South african company SWANSON Enterprises started with
their mining activities. They took the copperore with trucks to Aus and from there it went with the train to Tsumeb,
in the north of the country.
In 1967 the price for copper went down and in 1968 they started mining the so called "Strawberryquarz" and exported
about 15 tonnes per year to Idar Oberstein in Germany. There they made jewellery out of it - mainly necklaces and bracelets.
In 1998 SWANSON Enterprise stopped mining and sold most of the equipment and old metal parts to a scrapyard.
Ever since the mine has not been active again. As the mine is only 3 km away from our farmhouse and you still
can find a big variety of copperore and "Strawberryquarz" there - our guests love taking a walk up there and
collect some of these beautiful stones.
Sinclair Guestfarm - P.O.Box 19 - Helmeringhausen/Namibia - Phone/Fax +264 63 683049 - sinclair1@iway.na |
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