metric tons per month of cement to meet local demand. In 2005, Cheetah Cement Factory, which was a joint venture of Whale Rock Cement of Namibia and CP Cimento e Participacoes S.A. of Brazil, proposed to import cement from Brazil until a 500,000-t/yr-capacity cement plant near Otjiwarongo was built. In late 2005, Cheetah Cement imported 36,000 metric tons of cement from Brazil. Ohorongo Cement near Otavi started production in 2010. Cheetah Cement also got a factory in 2018, so that there is now an oversupply of cement to the Namibian market. Copper In 2006, Weatherly International plc of the United Kingdom agreed to acquire 56% interest in financially distressed Ongopolo; Weatherly subsequently increased its equity interest in the company to 100%. Ongopolo operated the Kombat, the Matchless, and the Otjihase Mines. Ongopolo suspended operations at the Tsumeb copper smelter in mid-2006, relined the 30,000-metric-ton-per-year (t/yr)-capacity reverberatory furnace, and reopened the smelter in August. A second reverberatory furnace at Tsumeb remained inactive, pending renovation. Ongopolo evaluated the development of an underground mine at the Tschudi copper-silver prospect. Other copper exploration activity in Namibia included that of Copper Resources Corp. of South Africa on the Haib project, Helio Resource Corp. of Canada on the Honib prospect, Teck Cominco Ltd. of Canada on the Kaoko project, and Yale Resources Ltd. of Canada on the Leicester prospect. Companies that explored for gold in 2006 included Forsys Metals Corp. of Canada on the Ondundu prospect, Teal Exploration & Mining Inc. of Canada on the Otjikoto prospect, and Teck Cominco on the Vredelus prospect. Yale Resources worked on the Makuru (also known as the Otjimakuru) project. , the only operational gold mine in Namibia is the Navachab Gold Mine. Now new company called Auryx Gold Namibia was formed and exploring the Otjikoto Gold deposit Diamond Diamond remained the most economically significant mineral commodity produced by the mining industry of Namibia. The country produced about 2% of the world’s gem-quality diamonds, which placed it as the eighth-ranked producer of gem diamond in terms of value. Diamonds contributed N$2,5 billion (US$235 million) in revenue to the government in 2013. In 2020, the Bank of Namibia forecasted a record decline of 24.6% in real terms due to a lower demand caused by COVID-19 outbreak. The president of the Chamber of Mines of Namibia Zebra Kasete said the decline in demand dampened the flow in the diamond pipeline. Namdeb Diamond