Exploring the oldest mine in the world
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Exploring the oldest mine in the world
Lion Cavern at Ngwenya in Eswatini, is the oldest known mine in the world
By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine.
One of the highlights of the 2025 WhyAfrica Road Trip was discovering more about the Ngwenya Iron Ore mine and Lion Cavern historic mine site in Eswatini on day 36 of our marathon adventure.
And who better to explore the old mine site with than Charl van Rensburg from WhyAfrica’s premier sponsor Remote Exploration Services (RES).
Charl joined the WhyAfrica Road Trip for the fourth consecutive year, and it was once again a great privilege to share the cabin with Charl for a week on another great journey through Africa.
Oldest mine in the world
The Ngwenya mine, and specifically the Lion Cavern mining site, is one of the oldest known mines in the world. Red ochre, specularite and hematite were extracted as far back as 43000 years ago. More modern iron ore mining began in the 20th century.
First mined by Anglo
In the modern era, the Swaziland Iron Ore Development Company (SIODC), affiliated with Anglo-American, operated Ngwenya from 1964 to 1977, when operations ceased mainly due to flooding of the open-pit mine and falling ore prices.
Modern mining
More recently, the Indian company Salgaocar tried to revive the mine between 2011 until 2014, but shut down amid environmental concerns, allegations of corruption, unfulfilled promises around job creation, community grievances, and again low profitability.
Current operator
The current miner/operator is Mwelase Mining Eswatini (Pty) Ltd, which has been awarded mineral rights, rehabilitation rights, and full mining licence for the Ngwenya Iron Ore site, including the slime dam area.
However, the mine is currently in care and maintenance due to economic, logistical, and environmental constraints.
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