Tsumeb (Otjiherero: Okavisume; Khoekhoe: ǂAixorobes) is a town of around 35,000 inhabitants and the largest town in the Oshikoto region in northern Namibia.

Tsumeb, since its founding in 1905, has been primarily a mining town. The town is the site of a deep mine (the lower workings now closed) whose ore deposits with respect to variety, rarity and aesthetics of minerals have been listed among 100 geological heritage sites around the world by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS).

The town was founded in 1905 by German colonial power and celebrated its 100th year of existence in 2005.

The name Tsumeb is generally pronounced "SOO-meb". The name is not a derivative of German, Afrikaans, or English. It has been suggested that it comes from Nama and means either "Place of the moss" or "Place of the frog". Perhaps this old name had something to do with the huge natural hill of green, oxidized copper ore that existed there before it was mined out.

Tsumeb is known as the "gateway to the north" of Namibia. It is the closest town to the Etosha National Park. The largest meteorite in the world, called Hoba, lies in a field about forty minutes' drive to the southeast of Tsumeb, at Hoba West. It is a nickel-iron meteorite of about 60 tonnes.

Tsumeb is notable for the huge mineralized pipe that led to its foundation. The origin of the pipe has been hotly debated. The pipe penetrates more or less vertically through the Precambrian Otavi dolomite for at least 1,300 m. One possibility is that the pipe was actually a gigantic ancient cave system and that the rock filling it is sand that seeped in from above. If the pipe is volcanic, as some have suggested, then the rock filling it (the "pseudo-aplite") is peculiar in the extreme. The pipe was mined in prehistoric times but those ancient workers barely scratched the surface. Most of the ore was removed in the 20th century by cut-and-fill methods. The ore was polymetallic and from it copper, lead, silver, gold, arsenic and germanium were won. There was also a fair amount of zinc present but the recovery of this metal was always difficult for technical reasons. Many millions of tonnes of ore of spectacular grade were removed. A good percentage of the ore (called "direct smelting ore") was so rich that it was sent straight to the smelter situated near the town without having to be processed through the mineral enrichment plant. The Tsumeb mine is also renowned amongst mineral collectors. Tsumeb belongs to the world's most prolific mineralogical sites. The minerals from Tsumeb are unsurpassed in variety and quality of form.

At least 170 mineral species have been cataloged and 20 of these are found nowhere else. The concentration of ingredients for Tsumeb's mineral formations originates in a sulfide deposit rich in many metals. A non-arid environment plentiful in oxygen-rich groundwater contributed to leaching and re-deposition of these elements as new minerals, sometimes in crystalline formations. There are rare secondary minerals of Pb, Cu, Zn, As, Sb and, reflecting the ore deposit chemistry, Ge, Ga and Cd as well. Minerals first described from Tsumeb include, according to Mindat.org:

In respect of it being 'one of the richest ore deposits with respect to variety, rarity and aesthetics of minerals in the world', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included the 'Tsumeb Ore Deposit' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022. The organisation defines an IUGS Geological Heritage Site as 'a key place with geological elements and/or processes of international scientific relevance, used as a reference, and/or with a substantial contribution to the development of geological sciences through history.'