Trigon Metals Mining Namibia on Wednesday expressed its determination to produce the first-ever copper concentrates at its Kombat mine by December this year.

The new copper mining company made this announcement on Wednesday afternoon at Kombat at a media briefing which was attended by the Otavi Constituency councillor, George Garab.

Kombat mine is situated between Otavi and Grootfontein in the Otjozondjupa Region.

Trigon Mining Namibia Support Services Manager, Sam Januarie, in a presentation at the media briefing said preparations leading to the actual mining activities at the mine site are nearing completion.

“We will first want to do an opencast mining, before we do any related underground mining activities as there is a lot of water underneath,” he said.

Januarie further explained that the exploration findings on the Kombat mine indicate that there is a good and top-quality copper deposit area, which can last the company for 15 years.

He said Trigon Mining Namibia is aiming at applying a mining model which was not tried before by any other company which operated at Kombat.

The Kombat mine was started in the 1960s by the TCL, and it closed down after heavy flooding in 2008.

“Since we do not plan to do any underground mining, for now, we are sure by December this year, we will produce the first copper concentrate,” said Januarie.

The Canadian copper mining company started its operations at Kombat early this year with 15 staff members and it has plans to employ more people.

Otavi Constituency Councillor, Garab who was present at the briefing expressed excitement to see residents of Kombat already congregating at mine gates, hoping to secure jobs.

“This new mine will bring new life to our people and we are happy with it,” he said.

The entire Kombat was in 2006 declared a settlement by Government, and was placed under the Otjozondjupa Regional Council after the Weatherly Mine closed down its mining activities in 2008 due to flooding, said Garab.

Source: Namibia Press Agency