| 1900 |
Otavi Minen und EisenbahnGesellschaft (Mining and Railway Company) is founded on the 6th of April 1900 with the legal status of a "German Colonial Company" and has its registered offices in Berlin. Its sole purpose is to exploit copper deposits and to build a railway in what was then the German Protectorate of South West Africa (now Namibia). |
| 1921 |
Under the Treaty of Versailles, the German Protectorate of South West Africa is taken over and administered by the South African Union. The Otavi mining and railway company is able to continue operation as a "foreign company" under the South African protectorate. |
| 1939 |
The Second World War breaks out and a South African Trustee takes over all the factories and farms belonging to the Otavi Company in South West Africa. He orders the mine in Tsumeb to be closed in 1940. |
| 1976 |
The "German Colonial Company" of Otavi Minen und Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft is converted into an "Aktiengesellschaft" (public joint stock company) under the name of Otavi Minen AG. |
| 1980 |
A 33 - 1/3 percent share is taken in General Enterprises Sarides S.A. of Piraeus (Greece), which operates a raw perlite production plant in the island of Milos. |
| 1989 |
Cookson GmbH, a subsidiary of Cookson plc of London, acquires Erlus Baustofiwerke AG's share in Otavi Minen AG. |
| 1993 |
Mineralmühle Schulte GmbH, a minerals processing plant is acquired. |
| 1996 |
Cookson Matthey Ceramics announces that it now holds 86.7 percent of Otavi. |
| 1998 |
Silver & Baryte Ores Mining Co. S.A., of Athens, takes over the shares in Otavi Minen AG from Cookson Matthey Ceramics and announces that it now holds 87.6 percent. |
| 2000 |
OtaviMinen AG is restructured into a management holding company. Otavi Minerals GmbH and Otavi Perlit GmbH are established. |
| 2000 |
6th of April, 100th Anniversary, official celebration on 21 June 2000. |
| 2002 |
Silver & Baryte Ores Mining Co. S.A., sold the German expanded Perlite business to Deutsche Perlite. |
| 2003/2004 |
The Otavi Minerals business becomes a fully integrated division of the S&B Industrial Minerals Group. |
