Modern Mining May 2019

COUNTRY FOCUS: BOTSWANA

Karowe, of course, is cur- rently an open-pit mining operation (with Trollope Mining Services as the mining contractor) but will eventually have to go underground. Lucara is currently working on a fea- sibility study to gauge the viability of an underground operation with the aim of extending mine life from 2026 to at least 2036 and the results of this are expected towards the end of this year. A p a r t f r o m t h e De b swana mi ne s and Karowe, Botswana has two other diamond mines, both of them relatively new,

which are currently not producing. These are Gem Diamond’s Ghaghoo mine in the Central Kalahari, an underground mine which was officially opened in 2014 only to be put on care and maintenance in 2017, and the Lerala mine near Martins Drift, which has had a che- quered history since being commissioned by Australian company DiamonEx in 2008. Ghaghoo, which could be an excellent asset given the right market conditions, is up for

Karowe’s history. Approximately 132 000 car- ats were recovered over the reporting period including 170 Specials with seven of the dia- monds exceeding 100 carats in weight. In April Lucara announced the recovery of the largest diamond to be mined at Karowe to date (and indeed in Botswana), an unbroken 1 785-carat near-gem quality stone which was recovered by the mine’s XRT circuit, which was commis- sioned in 2015 (see page 11 of this issue).

The processing plant of the Lerala diamond mine, which was commissioned in 2008. The mine was last operated by the now defunct Kimberley Diamonds.

The Phoenix pit at the now discontinued Tati Nickel operation near Francistown. The mine is the subject of an ongoing dispute between Nornickel – which signed a deal to sell the mine to BCL in 2014 – and the Government of Botswana (photo: Nornickel).

28  MODERN MINING  May 2019