Kokoseb targets 656 jobs, 710-bed village

Kokoseb will operate as a large-scale, round-the-clock open-pit gold mine, built on continuous drilling, blasting, hauling and on-site processing, with gold doré bars produced on site and flown out every two weeks from a dedicated helipad located near the processing plant for final refining.

At full operation, the project is expected to employ approximately 656 people, comprising both staff and contractors across mining, processing and administrative functions.

Most of these jobs are expected to be filled by Namibians, with only a limited number of expatriate specialists required for technical and management roles.

The workforce will operate on a 24-hour, three-shift system to sustain continuous production, with the majority accommodated on site in a 710-bed village under fly-in/fly-out and drive-in/drive-out arrangements, while some employees from nearby towns such as Uis and Omaruru will be transported daily to the site.

The Kokoseb Gold Project, being advanced by WIA Gold Limited in partnership with Epangelo Mining Company through the Mandarin Investments joint venture, is located on mining licence 274 within EPL 4818 in the Erongo Region, about 15 kilometres from Okombahe and 30 kilometres from Uis.

The mine is designed as a 12-year conventional open-pit operation with a main pit and a satellite pit, supported by a 5.25 million tonnes per annum processing plant.

Over an estimated 12-year life of mine, Kokoseb is expected to extract about 58.9 million tonnes of ore and 369 million tonnes of waste, translating into a strip ratio of roughly 6.3 to 1. The operation is targeting total gold recovery of approximately 1.65 million ounces, placing it firmly in the category of Namibia’s emerging mid- to large-scale gold producers.

Kokoseb remains at a regulatory stage. An application for mining licence 274 was submitted to the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Energy in October 2025 and is still under review. Once approved, construction is expected to take about two years before the mine moves into full production.