Modern Mining February 2018

DIAMONDS

(and the more broad-based, the better), the req- uisite mining skills and a value-set which is in alignment with the values of the De Beers Group. These requirements will no doubt rule out quite a few parties but we’re nevertheless confident that we will be able to announce a successful bidder in May this year.” Barton adds that Voorspoed is a quality asset, albeit one with a limited remaining life. “Our belief is that the right player can probably do another ‘half cut’ on the open pit which will allow mining to continue till at least around 2024. Certainly, there is some good money still to be made,” he observes. Finally, what of the future for DBCM in South Africa – is it likely to continue as essentially a single-mine operation or is there a reasonable prospect that it could develop new mines? “We would definitely like to have more than one pro- ducing asset,” Barton responds. “It’s therefore very good news that we’re finally getting move- ment on our exploration licence applications after a long two-year period when we seemed to be getting nowhere. We’ve now had 16 of the more than 50 applications we’ve submitted approved and we’re hopeful that others will fol- low soon. All those granted thus far are in the Northern Cape, specifically the Kimberley area, but we’re also targeting ground in the Free State, North West and Limpopo provinces. “With our new permits in place, we’re preparing to launch a new and intensive pro- gramme of exploration in South Africa after a long hiatus. Any new discoveries are likely to be under relatively deep cover but our explo- ration technologies are now very sophisticated – if the kimberlites are there, we have a good chance of finding them. There are obviously no guarantees but we’re optimistic that our explo- ration efforts might eventually deliver one or more new mines.” 

built in a high degree of flexibility to the mine design. For example, the VUP has a ventilation system that caters for diesel-driven equipment and an electrical system that caters for electri- cally-driven equipment, which gives us a great deal of optionality.” While the VUP secures Venetia’s future until 2045, Barton believes that the mine could oper- ate for even longer. “I would say that a further extension of life is almost a given. We’ll be mining the larger K1 ore body to just short of a kilometre and the K2 kimberlite to approxi- mately 670 m. There’s definitely potential to go deeper on both these ore bodies,” he states. “Kimberlite is not competent rock and the rule of thumb has always been that a kilome- tre is about as far down as one wants to go – which is the depth we mined to at Wesselton in Kimberley, which was the deepest diamond mine in the world when it closed in 2005. But there’s no real reason we can’t go deeper – par- ticularly when you consider that by the 2040s mining methods and technology will have advanced considerably from where they are today. Certainly, we have ‘blue sky’ scenarios that suggest that Venetia could still be going in 2060.” On the all-important issue of safety, Barton notes that DBCM has made huge strides in recent years. “Our last fatality was at Finsch in 2008, when the mine was still part of our stable. So we’re heading for 10 years without a fatality within DBCM. Our last Lost-Time Injury (LTI) at our Voorspoed mine was in October 2014. Regrettably, Venetia has not done quite as well and we’ve had 10 LTIs at the mine over the past two years, nine of these in the shafts and none of them involving DBCM employees. The question we’ve asked ourselves is ‘why are our contractors having LTIs?’ There has been intense discussion around this and we’re work- ing very closely with our contractors to rectify the situation.” On the plus side, the production shaft of the VUP has now gone 18 months without an LTI and the decline more than four years. “The record of the team on the decline is particu- larly impressive, if you consider that more than 3,5 km of development has been completed,” Barton points out. Moving on from the VUP and safety, Barton says that the sale process for the Voorspoed mine is going well. “The interest has been greater than we expected,” he states. “Of course, not all the interested parties will necessarily meet the requirements we’ve set down. We will only consider bidders who have access to sufficient capital, impeccable BEE credentials

“There are obviously no guarantees but we’re

optimistic that our exploration efforts might eventually deliver one or more new mines.”

The headgears of the Venetia Underground Project (VUP).

January 2018  MODERN MINING  35