Aggeneys is a mining town situated along the N14 National Route between Pofadder and Springbok in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
The town’s name Aggeneys is derived from the Nama language. The suggested meanings of this name include “Place of Blood”, “Place of Red Clay” or “Place of Reeds”. One author favours the last of these: the Nama word ‡a means “reed” while !keis means “place”.
Aggeneys falls within Khâi-Ma Local Municipality and the Namakwa District Municipality.
The town was established in 1976 on the farm Aggeneys. The town gets its name from this farm.
Aggeneys was founded to service the Black Mountain Mine, an underground base metal operation nearby, currently employing over 600 permanent staff. This zinc/lead/copper/silver mine is just to the west of the town.
The produce of the mine is transported by truck to the nearest railway line, located 150 km (90 mi) to the south-east along a virtually straight gravel (dirt) road. The diversified ore is then railed down to Saldanha Bay where it is exported out in 50,000-ton vessels from a 250-metre-long quay built for the purpose in 1978.
A major zinc deposit has been identified in the nearby Gamsberg inselberg, also set to be mined.
The ranges of hills, mountains and inselbergs in the area display some of the most diverse and complex geology in Southern Africa including some of the richest known concentrations of copper, lead and zinc.
The town is served by an airstrip known as the Aggeneys Airport. No scheduled flights operate to and from this airstrip.
