The Kameelburg Hill in Namibia’s Kunene Region has been the subject of mineral exploration for over five decades.
It is a Cretaceous carbonatite intrusion measuring about 1.4 kilometres in diameter and 276 metres in height, rimmed by radial and ring dykes that cut through syenites and Neoproterozoic marbles and schists of the Damara Supergroup.
Within the intrusion, mineral phases include sovite and beforsite carbonatites that host pyrochlore, ancylite, cerianite and fluorapatite.
These carry niobium and light rare-earth elements, such as lanthanum, cerium, and neodymium.
The rare earth elements at Kameelburg are dominated by the light rare earth group, with neodymium and praseodymium being the most significant.
These two elements are critical inputs for high-strength permanent magnets used in electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators and other clean energy technologies. Lanthanum and cerium, also present in the mineral assemblage, are used in catalytic converters, polishing powders and specialised glass applications.
Together with niobium hosted in pyrochlore, these minerals give Kameelburg a profile of metals central to both industrial uses and the energy transition.
The first phase of exploration was conducted by AMCOR, the South African state mining company, between 1967 and 1970.
AMCOR drilled 11 diamond drill holes, collected 12 rock chip samples and took two bulk samples for metallurgical analysis.
The work represented an early state investment into Namibia’s critical mineral potential, funded as part of AMCOR’s government-backed exploration budget.
At the National Institute for Metallurgy, concentrates were produced with a grade of 31.8 per cent P₂O₅ and 1.6 per cent total rare earth oxides from the phosphatic carbonatite core.
In comparison, the iron-rich ring dyke produced 2.6 per cent total rare earth oxides.
The results confirmed that Kameelburg was a coherent mineralised system of niobium and rare earths.
The project was revived in 2012 when Kinloch Resources carried out a new round of exploration.
The company invested in geochemical surveys across the hill, collecting 678 soil and rock samples on a 100-metre grid.
Rock assays returned values of up to 5.56 per cent total rare earth oxides, while soils assayed up to 2.66 per cent total rare earth oxides.
Niobium values reached 4.75 per cent niobium pentoxide.
An anomaly with a total rare earth oxide content above 1% was defined over an area of 0.838 square kilometres.
Kinloch’s expenditure went into sampling, assay work and reconnaissance mapping, but the downturn in rare earth prices after 2011 prevented the company from investing further to drill out a resource.
Aldoro Resources Ltd entered the project in the 2020s, consolidating an 85 per cent joint-venture interest across three Exclusive Prospecting Licences (EPLs), EPL 7372, EPL 7373, and EPL 7895, with a combined area of 1,017 square kilometres.
Aldoro invested in modern exploration campaigns, including geophysical surveys, geochemical sampling, trenching and reconnaissance drilling.
This programme confirmed the extent of mineralisation within the carbonatite and its associated dykes, allowing the company to begin resource modelling.
In September 2025, Aldoro reported the first Mineral Resource for Kameelburg.
The Inferred Resource was estimated at 520 million tonnes of total rare earth oxides equivalent, including a higher-grade zone of 271 million tonnes at 2.9 per cent total rare earth oxides.
The neodymium-praseodymium ratio was reported to be 21 per cent, with combined neodymium-praseodymium and niobium pentoxide exceeding one million tonnes. Mineralisation remains open to the east, west and at depth.
With this resource, Kameelburg has become Africa’s largest rare earths deposit and the third-largest in the world.
To support ongoing work, Aldoro has publicly signalled it is seeking to raise between N$4.0 million and N$5.5 million for drilling, metallurgical test work and field infrastructure.
The project’s location provides access to infrastructure well-suited for future development.
The C33 bitumen highway passes within 300 metres of the hill, the TransNamib freight railway line lies 2 kilometres away, and a 220 kilovolt power transmission line is 7 kilometres from the site.
Walvis Bay, 355 kilometres to the south-west, is the deep-water port that provides an export corridor.
These factors position the project for potential capital development once further feasibility and engineering work is completed, requiring new investment to advance from resource to mine.
From AMCOR’s early drilling and state-backed metallurgical studies in the late 1960s, through Kinloch Resources’ investment in sampling and assays in the 2010s, to Aldoro Resources’ modern exploration, fundraising and resource modelling in 2025, the Kameelburg Rare Earths–Niobium Project has advanced steadily.
Each phase has added to the knowledge base and drawn investment, establishing Kameelburg as one of the major critical mineral projects in Namibia’s Kunene Region.
