ANOTHER massive earthmoving operation to extend the life of the world’s richest diamond mine, Jwaneng in Botswana, will be taken to the board of Debswana for approval in the middle of next year, Albert Milton, GM of the mine, said on Tuesday.The Jwaneng mine, which was officially opened in 1982, is an open-cast mine and is one of the world’s five super pits. It is owned by Debswana, which is jointly owned by De Beers and the Botswana government.Anglo American owns 85% of De Beers and the Botswana government a 15% stake.Debswana is busy with an enormous $3bn earthmoving operation called Cut 8 that pushes one edge of the pit back, allowing mining to continue safely to deeper levels to extract diamonds from the three kimberlite pipes, ancient volcanic flows, that make up the mine. By end-October, Jwaneng had exceeded its target of 7.76-million carats by 14%, producing 8.8-million carats.Jwaneng produces on average about 10-million carats a year and the intention is to build output to 1...
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