View source for Navachab Gold Mine

{{Infobox gold mine
| name = Navachab
| image = Gold-Quartz-152636.jpg
| width = 150px
| caption = Gold quartz from the Navachab Gold Mine.
| pushpin_map = Namibia
| pushpin_label =Navachab Gold Mine
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Namibia
| coordinates = {{coord|21|58|20|S|015|46|24|E|region:NA|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| place = [[Karibib]]
| subdivision_type = [[Regions of Namibia|Region]]
| state/province = [[Erongo Region|Erongo]]
| country = [[Namibia]]
| owner = [[QKR]]
| official website = [http://www.qkrcorp.com/ QKR website]
| acquisition year = 2014
}}
[[File:Navachab Gold Mine.jpg|thumb|261px|Aerial view of Navachab Gold Mine]]
The '''Navachab Gold Mine''' is an [[open-pit mining|open-pit]] [[gold mine]] situated near [[Karibib]], in the [[Erongo Region]] of [[Namibia]]. The operation is owned by [[QKR]].<ref name="QKR">[http://www.qkrcorp.com/assets/] QKR website, accessed: 8 July 2014</ref>

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&nbsp;km south of the [[Okahandja]]-[[Swakopmund]] road.<ref name=henckert>{{cite web
|title=Navachab Gold Mine
|last=Henckert
|first=Wolfgang
|publisher=Henckert Tourist Centre
|date=16 March 2006
|url=http://www.henckert.com/karibib/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11%3Anavachab-gold-mine&catid=1%3Ahistory&Itemid=7&lang=en}}</ref>

== 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.<ref name="Country" >[http://www.anglogold.com/NR/rdonlyres/13D3130D-76B2-4A1C-A80F-5461785FC082/0/Namibia2008.pdf Country report: Namibia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707145316/http://www.anglogold.com/NR/rdonlyres/13D3130D-76B2-4A1C-A80F-5461785FC082/0/Namibia2008.pdf |date=2011-07-07 }} AngloGold Ashanti website, accessed: 8 August 2010</ref><ref name=henckert/>

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.<ref name=henckert /> Originally jointly owned by the ''Erongo Exploration and Mining Company'' (70%), the ''Metal Mining Company of Canada'' (20%) and ''Rand Mines Exploration'', [[AngloGold]] acquired a 70% interest in the mine in 1998, which it increased to a 100% the following year.<ref name="Country" /> In 2004, AngloGold and [[Ashanti Goldfields Corporation|Ashanti]] merged to form AngloGold Ashanti.

The mine is no longer the only gold mine in Namibia.<ref name="Country" /> 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.<ref>[http://www.miningweekly.com/article/navachab-to-switch-to-owner-mining-2003-10-17 Navachab to switch to owner mining] miningweekly.com, published: 17 October 2003, accessed: 8 August 2010</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?id=28&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=7326&no_cache=1 Navachab shrugs off claims on job offers] ''[[The Namibian]]'', published: 7 July 2004, accessed: 8 August 2010</ref> In 2009, the mine employed 578 people, all of which were permanent employees.<ref name="Annualnine">[http://www.anglogoldashanti.com/subwebs/InformationForInvestors/Reports09/AnnualReport09/f/AGA_AR09.pdf Annual Report 2009] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912032422/http://www.anglogoldashanti.com/subwebs/InformationForInvestors/Reports09/AnnualReport09/f/AGA_AR09.pdf |date=2011-09-12 }} AngloGold Ashanti website, accessed: 27 July 2010</ref>

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.<ref name="Annualnine" />

Navachab was acquired by QKR from [[AngloGold Ashanti]] in June 2014.<ref name="QKR" /> QKR is owned mostly by the [[Qatar Investment Authority]]'s ''Qatar Holding LLC'' and [[Kulczyk Investments]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Qatar could turn off tap on mining funding after investment review | website=Reuters | date=2015-06-09 | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/qatar-mining-idUSL5N0YV0CC20150609 | access-date=2022-05-30}}</ref>

== Production ==
Production figures of the recent past were:
{| class="wikitable"
|-  style="text-align:center; background:#cfb53b;"
| '''Year'''
| '''Production'''
| '''Grade'''
| '''Cost per ounce'''
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 2003 <ref name="Annualfive">[http://www.anglogoldashanti.co.za/subwebs/InformationForInvestors/AnnualReport05/report/pdf/ar_report_2005.pdf Annual Report 2005] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719053855/http://www.anglogoldashanti.co.za/subwebs/InformationForInvestors/AnnualReport05/report/pdf/ar_report_2005.pdf |date=2011-07-19 }} AngloGold Ashanti website, accessed: 11 July 2010</ref>
| 73,000 ounces
| 1.75 g/t
| [[United States dollar|US$]] 274
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 2004 <ref name="Annualfive" />
| 67,000 ounces
| 1.59 g/t
| US$ 348
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 2005 <ref name="Annualfive" />
| 81,000 ounces
| 2.05 g/t
| US$ 381
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 2006 <ref name="Annualsix">[http://www.anglogold.com/NR/rdonlyres/5F4B53A4-2DE4-43EC-87AB-BDB13F5C8C1F/0/ar_report_2006.pdf Annual Report 2006] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707144403/http://www.anglogold.com/NR/rdonlyres/5F4B53A4-2DE4-43EC-87AB-BDB13F5C8C1F/0/ar_report_2006.pdf |date=2011-07-07 }} AngloGold Ashanti website, accessed: 11 July 2010</ref>
| 86,000 ounces
| 1.81 g/t
| US$ 265
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 2007 <ref name="Annualnine" />
| 80,000 ounces
| 1.56 g/t
| US$ 419
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 2008 <ref name="Annualnine" />
| 68,000 ounces
| 1.43 g/t
| US$ 534
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 2009 <ref name="Annualnine" />
| 65,000 ounces
| 1.58 g/t
| US$ 622
|- style="text-align:center;"
| 2010
|
|
|
|}

{{Commons category|Navachab Gold Mine}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100716214942/http://www.anglogold.com/Default.htm AngloGold Ashanti website]
* [http://mines.acp.int/html/mine_NAM-00072_en.html Navachap mine (NAM-00072)] ''Secretariat of the [[African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States]] website''
* [http://www.mme.gov.na/gsn/gold.htm Gold] Geological Survey of Namibia website
* [http://sajg.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/full/108/3/365 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}}

[[Category:Gold mines in Namibia]]
[[Category:Surface mines in Namibia]]
[[Category:AngloGold Ashanti]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Erongo Region]]
[[Category:1989 establishments in South West Africa]]