The Klein Aub copper mine has been inactive for almost four decades. Mining stopped in 1987, and although the operation went quiet, the settlement itself never disappeared.
A small but persistent community remained behind, navigating the slow decline of a town built for a mine that no longer existed.
Now, a London-listed company is preparing to bring the site back into production, beginning with the reprocessing of historical tailings that were once too low-grade for extraction.
Unicorn Mineral Resources Plc, an Irish-based explorer listed in London, has signed conditional heads of terms to acquire a 75 per cent interest in the old Klein Aub operation for about N$26.5 million.
The remaining 25 per cent will stay with a Namibian private company. The transaction represents Unicorn’s first move outside Europe and its entry into Namibia’s established copper districts.
The two Exclusive Prospecting Licences cover 6,536 hectares, about 90 kilometres south of Windhoek, near the settlement that grew up around the mine.
Klein Aub today is not an abandoned ghost town, though it is often described as one in mining circles.
A 2021 environmental and water-quality study referencing the Hardap Regional Council indicates that the settlement still hosts about 3,000 residents.
It retains basic services, including two schools and small local businesses, but most formal employment disappeared when the mine closed. Much of the town’s economy now operates at a subsistence level, with households relying on small livestock, backyard crop patches, seasonal or casual work in nearby Rehoboth and on surrounding farms, informal trading, and government social grants.
A modest number of residents operate shebeens, small shops and transport services, while others travel to Walvis Bay or Windhoek for temporary work when opportunities arise.
The settlement remains economically fragile, with limited employment options and infrastructure originally designed for a larger, mine-supported population.
Historical geological data show Klein Aub operated from the mid-1960s until 1987 under operators including Gencor and Metorex.
During its life, the mine produced around 5.5 million tonnes of ore at grades reported as roughly 2.0 per cent copper and 50 grams per tonne silver.
Academic and technical records suggest that the orebodies totalled more than 7 million tonnes of mineable material across three steep, fault-controlled lenses situated along a marble–quartzite contact typical of Namibia’s portion of the Kalahari Copperbelt.
When the copper market weakened in the 1980s, the mine’s shutdown triggered a steep decline.
Workers left, economic activity fell away, and the once-busy town centre faded. Yet the place endured. Some houses were abandoned, others remained occupied, and the community continued to rely on subsistence farming, local trade and the limited opportunities available. Several studies by Namibian authorities classify the closed mine area as a high-hazard abandoned site, highlighting the environmental legacy the community has lived alongside for decades.
The value today sits in the mine’s waste dumps. According to Unicorn’s regulatory filings, about 5.59 million tonnes of tailings and slimes remain on site. The primary tailings facility holds approximately 5.5 million tonnes grading 0.26 per cent copper and 7.4 grams per tonne silver.
In comparison, the Slimes Dam contains about 87,000 tonnes at 1.34 per cent copper and 33.55 grams per tonne silver.
The company estimates that the total contained metal amounts to about 15,460 tonnes of copper and 1.4 million ounces of silver.
These figures are based on recent sampling and drilling campaigns conducted for the company since 2020.
Unicorn intends to test an environmentally friendly leaching method to recover the metal.
Metallurgical results are expected in early 2026. If the process proves viable, the project could become one of Namibia’s few examples of circular mining, where value is extracted from historical waste rather than through new underground development.
Such an approach would reduce environmental disturbance and complement authorities’ efforts to manage hazards associated with the legacy mine site.
The terms of the acquisition indicate that Unicorn is planning for long-term involvement.
Of the N$26.5 million purchase price, N$23 million will be paid through the issuance of about 8.6 million new Unicorn shares.
A cash payment of N$1.5 million will be made at completion, followed by an additional N$2 million a year later to settle outstanding obligations owed to landowners and former workers.
Unicorn’s chairman, Paddy Doherty, has said the due diligence process was demanding but that the project offers a meaningful entry point into southern Africa’s copper sector.
The company has not published detailed job estimates, as the project is still in testing.
However, a tailings-reprocessing operation of this scale would generally create several dozen direct jobs during production and a larger construction workforce.
Copper demand continues to rise globally as countries expand renewable energy infrastructure and electric-vehicle manufacturing.
Namibia’s stability and mining-friendly regulatory environment have already attracted renewed interest across the Kalahari Copperbelt, including projects at Witvlei, Dordabis and Oamites.
If Unicorn’s metallurgical trials confirm economic recoveries, Klein Aub could join this emerging wave of copper revitalisation and bring new activity to a community that has waited nearly forty years for the mine’s return.
The remaining question is whether the technology will work at an economic scale. The copper is still in the tailings, and the settlement still stands beside the mine that once sustained it.
The future depends on the results expected in early 2026, which will determine whether Klein Aub returns to Namibia’s active copper landscape after a prolonged period of dormancy.
