Kombat Mine has been flooded thrice in its 172 years – in 1925, 1988, and 2008.
The first time it flooded was in 1925 when the Otavi Minen und Eisenbahn Gesellschaft (OMEG) was running the mine.
The company suspended operations until the 1950s when Tsumeb Consolidated Limited (TCL) TCL bought the mine. TCL worked the mine until 1988, when the second flooding happened.
The third flooding happened about nine years later, in 2007 when Weatherly International took over from TCL. As if the flooding was not enough of a problem, copper prices fell. Ongopolo Mining had no choice but to close the mine.
It took 14 years to get the mine back into operation; this time, it was the Canadian company Trigon Metals.
The current owner, Trigon Metals, plans to reopen the underground mine in the first half of 2024.
The company said in October that it had started dewatering the underground mine, taking the water levels to 157m in September when the process started.
Trigon Metals installed two powerful (2.5MW) submersible pumps in the main shaft at Asis West and 7.2 MW of emergency backup generators to ensure uninterrupted power in July and August 2023.
The pumps can remove over 2,000 cubic metres per hour, sufficiently more than the total inflow when the mine is completely drained.
An extensive hydrogeology study found the underground water potable and piped into an open canal that feeds reservoirs near Windhoek.
Hopefully, if there is another flood, the pumps will manage to keep the water away from the underground shafts because Ongopolo Mining Limited also had pumps that failed to keep the water away when there was a two-hour deluge in 2008.
The power outages affected the Ongopolo Mining Limited pumps, leading to the flooding of the shaft. Ongopolo Mining’s parent company, Weatherley International, could not foot the bills to rebuild the shafts, resulting in the mine going under care and maintenance.
The History of Kombat Mine
Francis Galton was born in Birmingham, England, in 1822. His parents wanted him to study medicine. They allowed him to visit hospitals as part of their plan. Galton later trained at London and Birmingham hospitals.
But he had other ideas – travelling the world. He started visiting Germany for chemistry lessons at the University of Giessen. He went to southeastern Europe from Germany before returning to England to attend Trinity College in Cambridge.
Galton did not graduate and moved to London to resume his studies. Then his father died, and Galton, who inherited some fortune, abandoned his medical studies.
Between 1845-46, Galton and some friends travelled along the Nile River. Later, he ventured into southwestern Africa, looking for Lake Ngami. This trip saw him in the land now called Namibia.
While in the land now called Namibia, Galton stumbled upon copper in the Otavi Mountainland in 1851. This area is what is known today as Kombat Mine.
The South West Africa Company Limited (Südwestafrikanische Gesellschaft), formed in August 1892, was granted rights over land and minerals in what was known as the Damaraland Concession, which measured 13,000m2.
In 1909, Otavi Minen and Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft (OMEG) acquired the mineral rights to a 2 590 km2 area from the South West Africa Company.
The Otavi Minen und Eisenbahn Gesellschaft started mining at the Gross Otavi in 1909. Mining operations were extended to the Kombat area in 1911. At the time, there was limited surface production and some underground activities. In 1925, the first flood happened, affecting underground shafts.
Otavi Minen und Eisenbahn Gesellschaft stopped operations in 1941, and Tsumeb Consolidated Limited, under the Newmont Corporation, bought the mine in 1947 and explored the Kombat property throughout the 1950s. In 1962, Tsumeb Consolidated Ltd started operations, milling 680 tonnes daily. By 1981, Kombat had produced 8.8 million tonnes of ore grading 2.74% Cu, 1.67% Pb and 22 g/t Ag.
The South African company Gold Fields took over TCL’s administration in 1987, and a year later, Kombat Mine flooded. The flood became periodic, affecting other parts of the mine.
The mine changed hands in 1999 when Ongopolo Mining and Processing Limited bought the assets from the liquidated TCL. Ongopolo Mining and Processing Limited also took over Tsumeb Mine and Khusib Springs in 2000.
Weatherly International came onto the scene in 2006, buying Ongopolo Mining and Processing and all its assets, which were transferred under the ownership of Ongopolo Mining Ltd.
Two things happened in 2008 – the third flooding and the decline in the price of copper. This time, Ongopolo Mining had no choice but to close the mine.
A South African company, Grove Mining, took over in 2009, but in 2012, the company was ready to sell to Manila Investments, which transferred the ownership to Kombat Copper.
Manila Investments, owned by businessman Knowledge Katti’s Havana Investments and Epangelo, acquired 10% each of Kombat Copper.
On 28 December 2016, Kombat Copper changed its name to Trigon Metals, while Manila Investments also changed its name to Trigon Mining (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd, a Trigon Metals subsidiary, in 2018. Trigon Mining (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd holds the Kombat licences.
The Project
The Kombat Copper Project comprises five mining licenses over 1,216.7 ha. Three mining licences, 9, 16 and 73B, share a border, while mining licence 73A is for the Gross Otavi and mining licence 21 covers the Harasib Property.
The Project is a collective term for the licence areas, infrastructure and deposits that include Gross Otavi, Asis (including the Kombat Central, Kombat West and Kombat East deposits), Asis Far West (including the Asis West, Asis Far West and Asis Gap deposits) and Asis Ost.
Trigon Metals also holds EPL 3540 through its subsidiary Gazania Investments Nine (Pty) Ltd. EPL 3540 covers 5,614ha and shares the borders with mining licences 16, 73B and 73C.
In October 2021, Trigon Metals started operations at Kombat after a 14-year hiatus. The company wanted to produce 4,000 tonnes of copper concentrate by 2022 and 14,000 tonnes in 2024.
The company estimated that the mine’s total resources had increased by 456% in 2020 to stand at 18 million tonnes in the open pit and another 20 million tonnes underground.
A feasibility study conducted in 2018 estimated that Trigon Metals would need US$6,4m to restart operations, including US$ 44.7 m to repair the plant.
When the mine restarted, Trigon Metals CEO Jed Richardson remarked, “Today marks a momentous milestone for Trigon, the community of Kombat and the country of Namibia, and, of course, our valued shareholders. Special thanks to our team for their diligence in moving the company forward to this great day.”
In August 2022, Trigon Metals suspended operations to revise its plan and reduce operating costs.
“The central pit mineralisation has proven more costly to mine, as the veinlet nature of the mineralisation has made grade control difficult and costly.
“Mining in this area will be economical at higher copper prices, and the company is also exploring ore sorting techniques to upgrade mill feed and reduce costs from the central pit. The pause will involve retrenching a portion of the mine and mill staff for Trigon and the mine contractor,” Trigon Metals said.
According to the company, the closure would allow it to take advantage of the higher grade and more consistent Kavango and Kombat trend mineralisation, which should take operating costs down to US$2.60-US$2.80/lb of copper from the US$3.30-US$3.50/lb forecasts from the original mining plan.
“Owing to this new information, a decision has been made to optimise the mine plan. Management will now utilise the operational pause to focus the mine plan to exclusively operate from the Kavango pit and Kombat Trend mineralisation, compared to the original strategy, which would have employed Kavango ore to supplement production from the central pit,” the company said.
In May 2023, Trigon Metals resumed operations at Kombat Mine, announcing that the first concentrate shipments would start in Q2 of 2023 and production of 4.4 million pounds anticipated from the open pit by 31 March 2024, growing to 6.8 million pounds in our first full year of production.
The company also said that in the next quarter of 2023, it would begin water pumping from underground in anticipation of reopening underground mining in 2024.
