Namibia Dimension Stone Brochure


Dimension Stone in Namibia an Untapped Potential
The dimension stone industry in Namibia has been in existence since the beginning of the last century, however its potential has not yet been fully developed. Namibia should use its varied geological environments to continue to take advantage of this development. Namibia’s complex geological history, especially in the central portions of the country, have given rise to a variety of metamorphic and tectonic environments that have formed rock types with unique colours and textures (e.g. banding, folding, brecciation) that have potential as dimension stone.	Palisandro Marble Quarry - Abandoned
Modern quarrying and processing machinery and techniques have been introduced over the past decade. Modern quarrying techniques now employed in Namibia include diamond wire and chain saw cutting for marble and flame cutting for granite.
Namibia has three cutting and polishing plants. The two smaller plants namely Marmorwerke in Karibib and Makakata in Omaruru provide polished marble and granite products for the local market. The third and largest plant – Namibian Stone Processing (NSP) has recently been completed in Omaruru. NSP is a fully automated and computerised tile cutting and polishing plant, which will provide high quality polished products for both the local and international market. Currently the majority of Namibia’s dimension stone production is exported as blocks and this trend will continue for the foreseeable future as the premium prices paid for first grade blocks will ensure that these will always be exported. Second grade blocks have the potential to be used as feed material for a local processing plant producing high quality polished slabs and tiles for the international market. The economic viability of such a processing plant that is not linked directly to a quarrying operation would be enhanced by acquiring Economic Processing Zone status, due to the tax incentive advantages.
Namibia’s internal market for dimension stone is small, being limited mainly to tomb stone manufacture with the occasional building cladding/flooring application. Regionally, Namibia exported (10,830 t) and (41,456 t) of its 2004 marble and granite production respectively to SADC countries, mainly South Africa. With the opening of the Trans-Kalahari and Trans-Caprivi highways, the potential for developing markets for processed slabs and tiles to SADC countries has become a reality.

Annual production of marble and granite has shown a rapid increase in tonnage since 2003. There has been an increase in the variety of dimension stone now available, which is mainly due to the upswing in dimension stone exploration in Namibia, with 28 exploration licenses, 19 Mining Licences (2004) for dimension stone granted and several applications pending.
Namibian Dimension Stone Varieties
Marble The Palisandro Marble (Pty) Ltd quarry is situated some 45 km south-west of Karibib on the farm Gamikaub West. The quarry is no longer in operation, however potential exists for the extraction of second grade blocks. Four different marble types were produced; a white to greyish-white uni-coloured fine-grained marble (African White), a greyish-green marble with occasional light brown streaks (Namib Desert), a light yellowish-brownish banded dolomitic marble (Light Palisandro), which grades into a greyish-brown intensely folded variety (Dark Palisandro).
Aus Marble (Pty) Ltd quarried the Potoro Leonardo variety, a brecciated black marble with a golden yellow matrix, 100-km south of Aus. The quarry is no longer in operation, further exploration of the surrounding areas my identify similar marble deposits.
Granite Marmorwerke Karibib quarries a medium to coarse grained, equigranular granite near Spitzkoppe. The white variety is known as Namibian Pearl, the yellow as Tropical Sun and the light brown as Kalahari Sand. Damara Granite (Pty) Ltd markets a yellowish-brown granite quarried near Rooikop, 15-km east of Walvis Bay as Giallo Duna or Juparana.
Marmorwerke Karibib produces Guldenrot, a deep reddish brown, medium to fine grained, equigranular alkali-granite, Ubib, a coarse grained red pegmatitic granite with a slightly porphyritic texture, Goas White, a uniform textured whitish-grey coarse-grained slightly porphyritic granite and Omenje Black, a fine to medium grained dolerite with a greenish-black colour and ophitic texture. Marlin Granite Namibia (Pty) Ltd has been investigating a light green granite gneiss with red garnet porphyro-blasts occurring 12-km south-east of Walvis Bay and a pinkish-yellow porphyritic granite at Okombahe, 16-km east of Uis. Namstone (Pty) Ltd is exploring a course-grained red granite in the Opuwo district, a light grey to white granite and a pink porphyritic granite both in the Omaruru district. Other interesting varieties being examined include a banded multicoloured granite north of Rooikop and a yellow-banded gneiss north of Usakos.
Other varieties African Blue is quarried from sodalite and ankerite bearing carbonatite dykes occurring some 10-km west of Swartbooisdrift, 4-km south of the Kunene River. Namib Aragonite which occurs as white, yellow and light brown banded varieties is found in the desert near Namib Lead Mine, 40-km north-east of Swakopmund. Nosib conglomerate is quarried north of Okanguati in Kaokoland. Dimension stone blocks are cut from large boulders of this conglomerate, which is made up of light green cobbles and fragments of various rock types, cemented by a fine sandy matrix. This dimension stone is marketed as “grey savannah” and is currently being exported to Europe.
Examples of Marble types quarried Examples of Granite types quarried Examples of Slasto quarried Rock types identified as potential quarries List of Dimension Stone Cutting and Polishing Plants Dimension Stone Producers A PDF document containing all of the information mentioned above can be downloaded here.