Okiep
Directions/Location
8km North of Springbok
Description
Derived from the Nama word 'U-gieb', meaning 'the great, brackish spring', Okiep was, until production ceased in 1928, the world's richest copper mine. Okiep echoes the copper boom years, being the oldest mining town in South Africa where copper was first discovered and mined in 1855. Forst Shelton, on the road between Okiep and Concordia, was the main fortification of the Home Guard during the siege of Okiep from 1 April to 23 May 1902. Nine-hundred defenders, mostly Cape Copper Company employees, built nine blockhouses and repulsed General Jan Smuts's forces' concerted efforts to take the town. Today only the remnants of stone walls remain.
Pumphouse
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