Abstract We present a theoretical model to predict the properties of an observed z = 5.72 Lyman α emitter galaxy–C iv absorption pair separated by 1384 comoving kpc h−1. We use the separation of the pair and an outflow velocity/time travelling argument to demonstrate that the observed galaxy cannot be the source of metals for the C iv absorber. We find a plausible explanation for the metal enrichment in the context of our simulations: a dwarf galaxy with M⋆ = 1.87 × 109 M⊙ located 119 comoving kpc h−1 away with a wind velocity of ∼100 km s−1 launched at z ∼ 7. Such a dwarf (MUV = −20.5) is fainter than the detection limit of the observed example. In a general analysis of galaxy–C iv absorbers, we find galaxies with − 20.5 <MUV < −18.8 are responsible for the observed metal signatures. In addition, we find no correlation between the mass of the closest galaxy to the absorber and the distance between them, but a weak anti-correlation between the strength of the absorption and the separation of galaxy–absorber pairs.