The Sinomine Tsumeb Smelter has added more mining activities as a means to create new skills.

Speaking at the Tsumeb Copper Festival, Deputy Minister of Industrialisation and Trade Verna Sinimbo said the youth are required to acquire these skills for Namibia to become an industrialised nation. 

Tsumeb is known as a pioneering town for mining in the country. 

Dundee Precious Metals, a Canadian company, acquired the copper smelter in 2010.

Sinomine Tsumeb Smelter, a Chinese company, has now taken over the site.

Sinomine will not only be refining copper but will also extract rare minerals, including lithium, found in what was regarded as waste.

"Thus, diversifying mining activities. These added mining activities to the traditional practice have an element of creating new skills that our youth require to have if Namibia is to become an industrialised country by 2030," said Sinimbo.

Sinomine Tsumeb Smelter is the main sponsor of the Copper Festival, funding the festival with N$200,000.

"As the new owners of the Tsumeb Smelter, we feel very welcomed and excited to be working with this community. We are committed to ploughing back into Tsumeb by creating meaningful employment and business opportunities for residents," said Sam Hu-Jang, Executive Vice President for Production at the Sinomine Tsumeb Smelter.

The Tsumeb Copper Festival brought together local and international exhibitors along with the general business community.

The 19th Tsumeb Copper Festival took place under the theme 'Celebrating Craftsmanship, Creativity, and Excellence in a Diverse Namibia'.