East and southeast of Windhoek, stretching between the settlements of Seeis, Neudamm, and Groot Aub, lies a corridor of copper-bearing schists and quartz veins that forms part of the eastern continuation of Namibia’s Matchless Amphibolite Belt.
This zone, although never developed into a producing mine, has been intermittently explored since the 1960s and remains under investigation by Namibian prospectors and junior licence holders for near-surface copper mineralisation.
The earliest record of copper in the Seeis–Groot Aub area dates to 1964, when geologists from the Geological Survey of South West Africa mapped gossanous ridges and green-stained schists on farms east of Windhoek. According to Geological Survey Bulletin No. 5 (1968), hand specimens from the Seeis Hills returned copper contents ranging from 0.5 to 1.8 per cent, with visible malachite and chalcopyrite.
Follow-up trenching and shallow percussion drilling were conducted in the early 1970s by Anglovaal (Pty) Ltd, which was then undertaking regional surveys along the Khomas–Gobabis road.
The programme confirmed narrow zones of disseminated sulphides within amphibolite and quartz–mica schist, striking northeast and dipping moderately northwest. While no economic orebody was delineated, the mineralised structures were noted as possible extensions of the Otjihase and Ongombo systems farther north.
Following independence, the Seeis–Groot Aub corridor was subdivided into several small Exclusive Prospecting Licences (EPLs) granted to Namibian individuals and companies. Between 2007 and 2012, parts of the area were evaluated under regional reconnaissance by Craton Mining and Exploration (Pty) Ltd, which carried out geochemical soil sampling and magnetic profiling as part of its Omitiomire copper survey.
Recent fieldwork from 2021 to 2024 by Windhoek Exploration Services (Pty) Ltd and Namibian Copper (Pty) Ltd has reconfirmed copper mineralisation at surface, with grab samples yielding up to 0.9 per cent copper in weathered schist and quartz veins near Seeis. Geological logs and geophysical data remain limited, and no modern drilling has been undertaken, according to exploration updates filed with the Ministry of Mines and Energy and technical notes shared with the Geological Survey of Namibia (2024).
The Seeis–Groot Aub corridor is underlain by metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Kuiseb Formation, intruded by granitic bodies. Copper mineralisation occurs in quartz–carbonate shear veins and in disseminated sulphides within schist horizons. The dominant ore minerals are chalcopyrite, pyrite, and malachite, with trace gold recorded in some samples. The mineralisation trends northeast–southwest, following shear zones linked to the same tectonic deformation that hosts Otjihase and Ongombo.
As of 2025, exploration in the corridor remains preliminary. No defined resources have been declared. Namibian prospectors and small private companies hold the licences under the oversight of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, which has designated the area as an active copper-prospecting zone.
Though small and scattered, the Seeis–Groot Aub occurrences form an essential link between Windhoek’s eastern margin and the greater Matchless Belt.
They represent the last recorded surface exposures of copper-bearing schists before the terrain flattens toward the Kalahari, marking the east boundary of Namibia’s historic inland copper province.
