Gold

Gold is extremely scarce at Tsumeb and its occurrence as specimens visible to the naked eye is by no means unequivocal. It’s average tenor in run-of-mill ore between 1964 and 1974 was only 10 ppb, attributed to its elevated concentration in high grade chalcopyrite-bornite ore, which contained c. 300 ppb Au (Lombaard et al. 1986).

Pinch and Wilson (1977) recorded that a single specimen of gold in the Kegel Collection (now in the collections at the Smithsonian Institution) comprises "… a small mass [of gold] of a few mm in size imbedded in massive brownish quartz, or quartzite". The Kegel specimens date to the 1920s or early 1930s indicating that, on the assumption that the specimen is from Tsumeb, it must have originated from above 16 Level and almost certainly from the first oxidation zone.

Keller (1984) noted that gold is extremely rare at Tsumeb, occurring as tiny grains intergrown in quartz or in secondary minerals. He also hinted at the presence of gold amalgam from Tsumeb that had not yet been fully described.

Gold was included as an "extremely rare" mineral in the list of species provided by Lombaard et al. (1986); however, former TCL geologist Clive King (pers. comm. to M. Southwood, 2013) cautions that ore brought to Tsumeb for processing from other locations in Namibia, notably the Matchless and Otjihase mines, may be the source of some of the very rare specimens of gold which have been attributed to Tsumeb erroneously.

Gebhard (1999) made reference only to the "single well-documented specimen" in the Kegel Collection (at the Smithsonian). Von Bezing et al. (2016) noted the presence of gold at Tsumeb as "… grains in quartz veins and wall rock."

Two specimens of putative ‘Tsumeb gold’ at Harvard University, from the Pinch Collection (MGMH 2020.7.3308) and Feinglos Collection (MGMH 2022.4.10217E), bear close re-examination for irrefutable evidence of a Tsumeb provenance.