NamPost this week unveiled a series of stamp to commemorate Namibia’s diamond centenary. Diamonds were first discovered in Namibia in April 1908 after Zacharias Lewala picked up the first stone along the railway line between Aus and Lüderitz. Lewala handed over the stone to railway overseer August Stauch, setting off a diamond rush, which over time became the vital industry that has generated income for the country.

Helge Denker, who designed the centenary stamps, Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy Bernard Esau and Sakaria Nghikembua, CEO of NamPost, at the launch of the diamond centenary.

Over time diamonds were also discovered all along the coast from Lüderitz to the Orange River’s mouth, as well as along the river itself.
Helge Denker, a Namibian artist, was commissioned to design the centenary stamp collection that artistically depicts the diamond pipeline from mining and exploration to jewellery manufacture. The collection became available on Tuesday this week over the counters of all NamPost branches.
Speaking at the launch, Minister of Mines and Energy Erkki Nghimtina said that the discovery of diamonds at Lüderitz in 1908 and the later development of the Orangemund diamond fields was a definite catalyst to Namibia’s industrial growth.

“Over the intervening decades, Namibia’s mining skills and expertise contributed to the country’s development across a much broader canvas – in the growth of secondary industries, in entrepreneurship, in the human, physical and financial infrastructure, which has helped build modern Namibia,” he said.