Modern Mining March 2019

DIAMOND MINING

slope-failure miners in the world, if I can put it like that. We’re very proud of the fact that we never experienced a single injury as a result of these events.” On the subject of safety generally, Barton points out that Voorspoed was an incredibly safe mine, without a single fatality over the years it was in operation. “For almost the last full four years of operation, we were even free of LTIs although, sadly, one LTI was recorded just a few months before closure,” he states. From the outset, DBCM set itself the goal of having a young, very diverse, locally recruited workforce at Voorspoed. “We initially had to bring in a few skills from other mines within the Group since there was no mining ‘culture’ within the area and

potential buyers, some from overseas. “In all, there were about 60 groups interested in buy- ing the mine,” notes Barton. “This was whittled down to eight serious bidders and then four who submitted binding offers. None of them was able to meet all the selection criteria we had set in terms of empowerment creden- tials, technical capability, access to funding and a commitment to the Kroonstad region. We therefore, and obviously with great regret, decided to close the mine and this process is now underway in close consultation with all stakeholders.” In all, around 950 people have been affected by the closure – around 380 of them De Beers Group employees and the rest contractor per- sonnel. “We realise the impact that this will have on the Kroonstad area and we have put in place appropriate support structures,” says Barton. “Beyond this, we take comfort from the fact that Voorspoed is leaving a real leg- acy behind it in terms of the businesses it has helped to create and the many people, both employees and community members, it has assisted with education and training, who are now well equipped to take advantage of future employment opportunities.” Editor’s note: Phillip Barton will be leaving De Beers at the end of June after a distinguished career with the Group spanning more than 30 years. He will not have a successor as CEO of DBCM, as the South African business will be consolidated into a new entity to be known as De Beers Group Managed Operations, combin- ing the Group’s mining assets in South Africa and Canada. See page 16 of this issue for more details of this restructuring.

therefore little chance of recruiting people with any mining experience,” he relates. “We didn’t allow this to deter us. Throughout the mine’s existence most of the employees were drawn from local communities. More than that, we had a workforce that was more than one-quarter female and which also had many people with disabilities – around 3 % of the total comple- ment – on the payroll.” The mine became a partner with the sur- rounding communities and remains so even now with most its programmes due to run through to 2021. “I was on the Voorspoed Trust,” says Barton. “Things were done differ- ently – there was not as much red tape as one normally encounters and some amazing work was done, particularly in the field of education and the development of small to medium-sized business enterprises. We never reduced our investment in communities even in those years when the mine was not profitable.” Discussing the Voorspoed disposal process, Barton says this was embarked upon when De Beers Group – faced with the decision on whether or not to proceed with a post-Cut 3 extension, which would have proved uneco- nomic from a Group point of view – came to the conclusion that the mine could benefit by being taken over by a lower-cost operator. “Our view was that – in the right hands – Voorspoed could continue to be operated profitably for at least a further several years and, in conjunction with Standard Bank, we initiated a multi-phased transparent sale process which was launched in November 2017 and which ran through to June 2018.” Voorspoed attracted enormous interest from

A close-up view of the Voorspoed processing plant.

“We never reduced our

investment in communities even in those years when the mine was not profitable.”

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March 2019  MODERN MINING  35