WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Namibia's diamond company, Namdeb, said on Wednesday it had discovered a 500-year-old shipwreck containing a treasure trove of coins, ivory, copper and weapons during mining operations at sea.

The company came across the wreck on April 1 during operations in the Atlantic after finding some copper ingots and the remains of three bronze cannons, company spokesman Hilifa Mbako said.

"The site yielded a wealth of objects including six bronze cannons, several tonnes of copper, more than 50 elephant tusks, pewter tableware, navigational instruments, weapons and thousands of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins, minted in the late 1400s and early 1500s," Mbako said.

Archaeologist Dieter Noli, an expert on the area, later identified the cannons as Spanish, dating back to the