Modern Mining May 2015

EVENTS

Preview – twelfth Botswana

While Botswana’s mining scene is currently subdued, the organisers of the upcoming Botswana Resource Sector Conference are nevertheless expecting a good turnout at the event, which normally draws between 350 and 400 del- egates. It is to be held on 9 and 10 June at the usual venue, the Gaborone International Conference Centre.

P robably one of the highlights this year will be an update on the Karowe diamond mine in the Orapa Kimberlite Field. This will be provided by Paul Day, COO of Lucara Diamond Corp, the Canadian company which owns the mine via its Botswanan sub- sidiary, Boteti Mining. Only commissioned in 2012, the mine has proved to be a spectacu- lar success, regularly producing large stones including – just recently – a 341,9 carat gem quality diamond. During the first quarter of this year alone, the mine – roughly a 400 000 to 450 000 carat a year producer – recovered 153 diamonds greater than 10,8 carats at an av- erage stone size of 27,7 carats. As reported in an in-depth article in Modern Mining in January this year, a plant optimisa- tion project has been underway at Karowe in recent months designed to ensure a sustainable 2,5 Mt/a throughput. The work has included the building of a ‘Large Diamond Recovery Circuit’ treating material up to 60 to 70 mm in size. The optimisation project is now largely complete within its US$55 million budget and commissioning is underway. Early results from commissioning of the X-ray Transmission (XRT) circuit forming part of the upgrade are

described as excellent and Lucara recently reported that it had recovered 19 stones rang- ing between 20 and 50 carats, three ranging between 50 and 100 carats and four of over 100 carats since the integration of the XRT machines into the process plant. Also due to present on diamond min- ing is Haile Mphusu, MD of Gem Diamonds Botswana, who will be focusing on Gem’s inno- vative new Ghaghoo mine – Botswana’s first underground diamond mining operation – in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The mine, which was officially opened in September last year by Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama, Botswana’s President, is currently in Phase 1 which is designed to produce between

Centre: The pit at Lucara’s Karowe diamond mine in the Orapa area. This photo was taken when ‘Modern Mining’ visited the site in September last year (photo: Arthur Tassell). Below: The processing plant at the new Ghaghoo mine of Gem Diamonds. Officially opened last year, Ghaghoo is not only Botswana’s first underground mine but also the first mine in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (photo: Gem Diamonds).

42  MODERN MINING  May 2015