O’okiep is situated, Namaqualand, 8 km north of Springbok and 120 km south of the Namibian border. We are 560 km north of Cape Town, 950 km south of Windhoek, 380 km west of Upington and have the sea as our western border (100 km). O’okiep is the oldest mining town in South Africa where copper was first discovered and mined in 1855. The town of O’okiep was surveyed in March 1856.  In the 1862 Phillips and King, who started the mining activities in Namaqualand in 1852, was taken over by a London based company which was called “The Cape Copper Company” and they continued mining in Namaqualand until the May 1919 when production ceased. O’okiep was for many years the centre of the Namaqualand copper fields which was known at the turn of the century as the richest copper mining area in the world. This in turn made O’okiep famous during the last phase of the Anglo Boer War when O’okiep was besieged by the Boer Commandos under the command of General Jan Smuts for a period of 4 weeks (May 1902). O’okiep is therefore very rich in history has two national monuments, namely a Smoke Stack (ventilation shaft) and Cornish Pump House. This Cornish Pump House is in fact a steam pump engine which is fully intact and is the only remaining pump house of its sort in the Southern Hemisphere. Many of these pump houses remain in Cornwall, England. Much of the old mining works still remain in Okiep, especially the remains of the old Cornish miners’ workings in the surrounding areas Visitors arrived via the old 2’6” railway line that was first constructed in 1867 and completed in 1873. This line was used for the transportation of copper to Port Nolloth, some 91.5 miles away from O’okiep. In 1892 steam was introduced to the whole line and continued until 1944 when the Americans tore up the railway line. All passangers were off loaded at Port Nolloth harbor from the ship via a giant basket which held up to 4 people and swung onto the jetty. This must have been a pretty hair raising experience. Today Okiep (its modern spelling) is a small ex mining town that saw its boom days many years ago and is now only a shadow of what it was. With a population of some 10 000 and with unemployment of some 75%. All is about to change with Orion and Copper 360 respectively starting up Copper mining in the area.