[miningmx.com] — DEBSWANA, the diamond mining group owned by De Beers and the Botswana government, said on Tuesday it has commenced with prefeasibility studies to extend the lifespan of its flagship Jwaneng mine beyond 2024.
The envisaged extension of Jwaneng, the world’s richest known resource of diamonds, will be known as Cut 9. It could prolong the life of the open cast mine up to 2030.
Debswana’s Steve Axcell, general manager: projects, planning and technical services, said the group hasn’t ruled out the possibility of converting operations to underground mining. However, this was unlikely as current projects would be significantly compromised should underground mining infrastructure be put in place.
“We are sunshine miners,” said Axcell. “We still have to do our sums, but we will need a lot of (new) expertise to assist (with underground operations).”
Should Cut 9 proceed as an open cast project, the mine’s depth would be extended to about 850m from its current depth of 350m. The group is expected to make a final decision on Cut 9 by 2013.
Meanwhile, Jwaneng’s general manager Balisi Bonyongo said the mine is confident it could maintain costs at current levels when its Cut 8 project moves into full operating capacity by around 2017.
The Cut 8 project – commissioned in February to extend the mine’s lifespan from 2017 to 2024 – would increase the mine’s depth to about 624m. However, the group would have to remove three times the amount of waste to get the same amount of diamonds.
“The current prodigious profit margin is 60% to 70%,” said Bonyongo. “We expect to maintain that.” Mining manager for the Cut 8 project, James Kirby, said the mine has already begun investing in infrastructure and skills to improve efficiency.
The R25bn-project – the largest single investment in the history of Debswana – will strip 713 million tonnes of waste between now and 2016 to expose 75 million tonnes of ore, which will secure 102 million diamond carats. The grade is expected to be 112 carats per 100 tonnes.
