Modern Mining March 2021

COMMODITY FOCUS – DIAMONDS

At the heart of Venetia’s transition To successfully transition from surface to underground mining and to establish a mine of the future at Venetia, De Beers has adopted an operational readiness framework to enhance the transforma- tion of people, processes and systems. By Munesu Shoko .

H aving operated Venetia successfully as an opencast mine since 1992, De Beers took the decision to develop an underground mining operation, to economically extract kimberlites that extend well below the depth limit of open-pit operations. The two orebodies at Venetia – K01 and K02 – extend well below surface to depths of up to about 1 000 m. From an economic perspective, it made sense for the mining giant to transition the mine at the end of the current cut (Cut 4). In developing the US2,1-billion Venetia Under­ ground Project (VUP) – the single biggest investment in South Africa’s diamond industry in decades, which will treat about 132-million tonnes of material con- taining an estimated 100-million carats over the course of its life – De Beers had the ‘mine of the future’ clearly in mind. With any mine of the future, operating practices basically entail the adoption and incorporation of new technologies such as automa- tion and digitalisation, among others. To be successful, not only with the implemen- tation of these new technologies, but also with the transition from opencast to underground min- ing, operational readiness and transition manager Morrison Maseko tells Modern Mining that De Beers viewed the project delivery from a broader

Morrison Maseko, operational readiness and transition manager at De Beers’ Venetia Underground Project. perspective, including people, processes and systems. The people aspect, says Maseko, was always going to be important, if not principal, given that the success or failure of technology initiatives depend, to a large degree, on the effectiveness of an organisation’s change management strategies. The transition from opencast to underground also demanded a complete mindset shift and new skills. There were many factors to take into consideration:

The Integrated Owners Team Operators working together to deliver safe production.

12  MODERN MINING  March 2021