[3] Aggeneys the town, on a farm of that name, was founded to service the Black Mountain Mine, an underground base-metal operation nearby, currently employing over 600 permanent staff.

[4] 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 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.

But beyond the edges of town the arid conditions and the unique ecologies on the various inselbergs, peaks, hills and plains, with their varied rocky and shallow soil substrate, support a wide range of plants, animals, birds and insects, including rare and endemic species.

The writer William Charles Scully wrote that, “for sheer uncompromising aridity, for stark grotesque naked horror, these mountains stand probably unsurpassed on the face of the globe.”[5] Average, but variable, annual rainfall at the town is about 112 mm, with greatest precipitation occurring between January and April.