Inside QKR Namibia’s N$4-billion underground expansion—and the contractors, technologies and local suppliers giving Namibia’s oldest gold mine a second life.
At Navachab, the bottom of the open pit is no longer simply the deepest point of the mine. It is becoming the entrance to its future.
More than three decades after its first gold pour in 1989, the operation near Karibib is entering one of the most consequential periods in its history. The open pit that established Navachab as a cornerstone of Namibia’s mining industry is approaching the point at which further surface expansion becomes increasingly uneconomical. Beneath it, successful trials and deeper drilling have confirmed an orebody capable of supporting an entirely different mining system.
QKR Namibia is investing N$4 billion over four years to take Navachab underground. The programme is expected to create more than 150 jobs during execution and establish a production runway extending well beyond the limits of the existing pit.
For Managing Director George Botshiwe, the investment must be understood in wider terms.
“This project is not just about mining more gold, it’s about unlocking opportunities for Namibians on a scale that will transform entire communities.”
The confidence behind that statement is supported by strong operational performance. Navachab produced approximately 131,000 ounces of gold in 2025, a new record and a considerable rise from 116,740 ounces two years earlier. Its reserves stand at 2.43 million ounces within a total resource base of 5.16 million ounces. Mining is expected to continue to 2036, while processing could extend to 2045.
“Navachab has 2.43 million ounces in reserves and a total resource of 5.16 million ounces, with the expansion aiming to bring more of this into production through advanced mining technologies,” Botshiwe says. “Our expansion is as much about smart mining as it is about scale.”
That distinction is central to the project. Navachab is not simply pursuing more tonnes. It is rebuilding a mature operation around a different mining method, a more selective processing strategy, tighter control of water and energy, and a supply chain capable of supporting decades of deeper production.
A second mine beneath the first
Navachab’s open pit is now more than 250 metres deep, over a kilometre long and approximately half a kilometre wide.
For much of its life, the mine followed the familiar logic of surface mining: remove waste, expose the ore, drill and blast it, then load and haul it to the plant. At greater depth, that equation becomes less forgiving. Every additional pushback requires more waste to be removed before the operation can reach the gold below. Haul distances lengthen, fleet requirements rise and the working space becomes more constrained.
The gold may still be there, but the method used to reach it eventually stops paying.
Underground development began in November 2025. By year-end, the Main Shoot decline had advanced approximately 390 metres, with the first production blast fired on 20 December. A second decline is being developed from the northern side, with the two excavations designed to connect and follow the orebody below the existing pit. Further exploration drilling is scheduled from the third quarter of 2026 to strengthen geological confidence and guide future development.
This is not simply an open-pit mine with an underground section attached. Ventilation, ground support, dewatering, power, communications, emergency access and equipment movement must operate as one system.
Navachab is therefore building more than declines. It is creating an underground capability that has never previously existed at the mine.
Byrnecut and the mechanics of going underground
At the centre of that transition is Byrnecut Mining Namibia and Byrnecut Offshore.
The contractor’s Navachab agreement runs from November 2025 to October 2029 and covers mechanised decline development, lateral and vertical development, long-hole open stoping production, fleet maintenance and workforce training. Byrnecut is helping establish the physical mine, the production method, the fleet system and the people required to operate it.
The contractor had already deployed 58 employees during the early development period, including 30 people from the Karibib area. The long-term value of the partnership will therefore be measured not only in metres advanced underground, but also in the Namibian operators, technicians, artisans and supervisors who acquire mechanised mining experience.
The fleet deployed by Byrnecut places Sandvik Namibia and Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions directly inside Navachab’s underground story. It includes two Sandvik DD422i development drills, two DL432i production drills, two LH621i loaders, one LH517i loader and five TH663i underground trucks.
Development drills advance the headings that create access. Production drills prepare the long holes from which ore is blasted. Loaders remove broken material, while trucks carry it through the declines to the surface.
Together, Byrnecut and Sandvik provide the mechanised backbone of the new operation: one supplies the contract-mining system, maintenance and training; the other supplies the drilling, loading and hauling technology through which that system becomes productive.
Doing more with the same water and power
The transformation below ground is being matched by an equally important change above it.
Navachab’s plant has increased throughput from around 90 tonnes per hour at commissioning to approximately 550 tonnes per hour today. It has achieved that expansion while working within fixed allocations of about 3,500 cubic metres of water per day and nine megawatts of electricity.
“From day one, our challenge has been how to do more with the same water and electricity,” Botshiwe says. “The answer has been relentless innovation.”
That innovation has included water-saving tailings systems, milling improvements and pre-concentration technology that prevents low-value material from consuming scarce plant capacity.
A Swiss Tower Mill processes gold-bearing concentrate more efficiently, while a new gravity concentrator is intended to improve recovery of Navachab’s unusually fine native gold. The orebody is hosted within carbonate-rich marble, and much of its gold is barely visible to the eye. Recovery therefore depends on precise plant control rather than easily identifiable coarse gold.
STEINERT GmbH contributes to that control through KSS EVO 6.0 sensor-based ore sorters commissioned in early 2026. The systems identify and remove waste rock before it enters the energy-intensive milling circuit. Every tonne rejected early is a tonne that does not consume water, electricity, grinding media and plant time.
The mine has also brought surface drilling in-house through six Epiroc FlexiROC D65 rigs, giving Navachab greater control over equipment availability, blast quality, production sequencing and cost.
The next constraint is infrastructure. Navachab is discussing additional water and electricity allocations with NamWater and NamPower and has applied to install solar-generating capacity.
“With the right infrastructure, we can double our treatment capacity again,” Botshiwe says. “We are not done yet.”
Engineering certainty around a changing mine
A mine moving from surface to underground cannot treat its surrounding infrastructure as fixed. The relationship between the pit, earth structures, water systems, roads, power infrastructure and new workings must be continually understood and managed.
Knight Piésold Consulting Namibia forms part of that technical layer. The consultancy has supported site-investigation activity at Navachab that included seismic cone penetration testing, generating information on subsurface conditions and material behaviour.
Its wider Namibian capability spans mining, water resources, power, transportation, infrastructure design and construction supervision. That multidisciplinary reach matters because the underground expansion does not sit in isolation. It interacts with surface-water management, plant infrastructure, roads, power demand and the facilities that must remain stable while the mine beneath them changes.
SGS Namibia contributes another form of certainty: analytical certainty.
Mining decisions depend on knowing what is in the rock, at what grade and how the material is likely to behave in the plant. SGS’s Namibian minerals capability includes sample preparation, geochemistry, X-ray fluorescence analysis, inspection and quality control. Its Walvis Bay laboratory can dry, crush, pulverise and sieve samples, while rapid XRF analysis supports grade control and plant-process oversight.
For an operation undertaking deeper exploration while optimising recovery, faster access to reliable analytical data shortens the distance between sampling and decision-making. It helps geologists refine the orebody and supports the plant as it balances recovery against throughput.
Protecting the systems behind production
Much of a mine’s most important infrastructure is noticed only when it fails.
SWE Lightning Protection and Earthing CC and SWE Systems bring specialist capability in lightning protection, earthing and surge protection. Their services include plant-wide risk assessments, soil-resistivity surveys, earth-resistance testing, earth-grid design, current-injection testing and systems designed to recognised SANS, IEC and IEEE requirements.
This layer becomes increasingly important as Navachab adds underground electrical infrastructure, communications, pumping and potentially solar generation. A failure affecting power, controls or communications underground can interrupt production and create a safety risk.
SWE’s role therefore sits within the resilience of the operation, protecting the electrical and electronic systems on which the mine’s expanding footprint depends.
The logistics and local manufacturing behind the mine
The equipment, consumables, spares and people required by Navachab must all move safely and predictably.
Oshikoto Transport & Investment CC brings Namibian transport and fleet capability to that part of the ecosystem. Its wider operations include transport, construction and security services supported by heavy-duty drivers, diesel mechanics, safety personnel and fleet management.
At a mine undertaking underground construction while maintaining surface production, logistics is not a background service. Missed deliveries, unavailable vehicles or poor fleet maintenance can interrupt tightly sequenced work. The value of a transport partner lies in ensuring that people and materials arrive where they are needed, when they are needed.
The supply chain also reaches into the everyday protection of Navachab’s workforce.
Ndalishi Group, based in Arandis in the Erongo Region, manufactures safety boots, gumboots and related protective footwear for mining and other high-risk industries. Its participation places a Namibian manufacturer inside a product category that has traditionally depended heavily on imports.
The significance goes beyond a pair of boots. Protective footwear separates workers from crushing hazards, sharp objects, water and difficult ground conditions. By sourcing from a regional manufacturer, Navachab connects operational safety with local industrial development.
Ndalishi demonstrates what local procurement can become when it moves beyond low-value services: products made in Namibia, manufacturing skills developed locally and a greater share of mining expenditure retained within the country.
Local procurement as an economic system
In 2024, 84% of Navachab’s N$2.49-billion expenditure was directed to Namibian companies.
The mine’s economic footprint therefore extends far beyond its own payroll. It runs through transport providers such as Oshikoto, local manufacturers such as Ndalishi, engineering firms, laboratories, maintenance businesses, workshops and the many companies supplying equipment and services to the operation.
“Every dollar we spend locally multiplies across the economy,” Botshiwe says. “We are intentional about empowering Namibian entrepreneurs and ensuring that the benefits of our mine reach far beyond Karibib.”
The deeper opportunity is not simply to award more local contracts. It is to help Namibian companies progress into more technical and higher-value areas of the mining supply chain.
Navachab’s extended operating horizon gives those businesses time to invest. A mine with decades ahead of it provides greater confidence to recruit people, buy equipment, strengthen safety and quality systems, and build the experience needed to compete elsewhere in Namibia’s mining industry.
The supplier ecosystem is therefore not separate from the expansion. It is one of the mechanisms through which the project creates value beyond the orebody.
Building the workforce for a different mine
Navachab employed fewer than 500 permanent staff in 2020. By 2025, the workforce had grown to 889 permanent employees, supported by 598 contractors. More than 150 additional jobs are expected during the underground programme.
Yet the challenge is not only to increase headcount. It is to build capabilities that were never previously required at a predominantly open-pit mine.
Underground operators must understand confined working areas, ventilation, ground support, communications and emergency procedures. Mechanics and electricians must work with different equipment and constraints. Supervisors must coordinate activities where access is limited and production stages are closely interdependent.
A new intake of 28 apprentices forms part of that preparation. Drawn from several institutions, the group is gaining practical experience in welding and fabrication, boilermaking, occupational health and safety, and autotronics.
Navachab has also donated N$250,000 in engineering equipment to the Namibia Institute of Mining and Technology at Arandis, strengthening practical training beyond the mine and contributing to Namibia’s wider pool of artisans and technicians.
Success will ultimately be measured through progression: apprentices becoming artisans, interns becoming technicians and locally recruited employees taking responsibility as underground operators and supervisors.
A legacy measured beyond ounces
Navachab’s community investment has expanded alongside its production.
An N$80-million medical centre is being developed in Karibib with the local authority, which is contributing the land. The planned facility will include maternity, casualty and theatre services. The mine has also supported an SME park, electrification, mortuary infrastructure and boreholes supplying water to more than 3,560 people and approximately 15,000 livestock across four regions.
“These are not side projects; they are part of our responsibility as custodians of the orebody,” Botshiwe says. “We mine for the Namibian people, and that means investing in health, education and livelihoods.”
That responsibility also appears in smaller acts. Thirty-eight Navachab employees recently participated in an onsite blood-donation drive, while the mine increased its sponsorship of the Navachab Half Marathon to N$1.5 million. The ambition is to develop the event, now in its twelfth edition, into an international competition capable of drawing greater attention and activity to Karibib.
At the national level, a gold-purchase agreement with the Bank of Namibia creates a direct route through which domestically produced gold can support reserve diversification and financial resilience. It connects Navachab’s physical output with the country’s sovereign reserves and retains more value from Namibia’s resources within Namibia.
The next Navachab
Navachab’s second life will be more technically demanding than its first.
The mine must develop underground access while maintaining surface production. It must increase recovery within tight water and power constraints. It must integrate international technology and specialist contracting while transferring knowledge to Namibian workers. It must also convert high local-procurement expenditure into lasting capability among the businesses around it.
These are not separate challenges. They form one connected operating system.
The declines depend on Byrnecut’s mining expertise and Sandvik’s mechanised fleet. The plant depends on sorting, milling and recovery technology. The wider operation draws on Knight Piésold’s engineering insight, SGS’s analytical services and SWE’s protection of electrical infrastructure. Production is supported by Oshikoto’s transport capability, while Ndalishi shows how even the essential task of protecting workers can strengthen Namibian manufacturing.
That is what makes the N$4-billion investment more than an underground project.
It is a reconstruction of Navachab around a new model—one in which technology, contractors, suppliers, apprentices, institutions and communities all become part of the production story.
Navachab is not merely extending the life of Namibia’s oldest operating gold mine.
It is building the ecosystem required to power its second life—and determining how widely the value of that life will be shared
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