34
MODERN MINING
May 2014
EVENTS
D
iamond mining and exploration
will – as one would expect – fea-
ture strongly at the conference
and among the speakers will be
Ribson Gabonowe, a Director
of Boteti Mining (a subsidiary of Lucara Dia-
monds of Canada), who will provide an update
on the highly successful Karowe mine in the
Orapa area, which has recently completed its
first full year of operations and which should
produce between 400 000 and 420 000 carats
in 2014. Just over a year ago, the mine recov-
ered a 239-carat stone, one of the biggest dia-
monds ever seen in Botswana. Also presenting
on diamonds will be Rebaone Bay Lechuti-
Tlhalerwa, who will discuss Debswana’s past,
current and future projects. Debswana’s dia-
mond mines dominate Botswana’s economy
and, between them, produced nearly 22 mil-
lion carats in 2012.
Botswana’s next diamond mine to enter com-
mercial operation will be the Ghaghoo mine,
where the first ore has already been put through
the plant. Although no speakers from Gem
Diamonds, the company developing the mine,
have been lined up to speak in Gaborone (as
of this writing), the company will very likely
be present at the event and its representatives
should be able to provide informal updates on
the progress of the project.
Delegates will no doubt also be eager to hear
Kimberley Diamonds’ plans for the reopen-
ing of the Lerala mine near Martin’s Drift, and
the company’s MD, Lee-Anne de Bruin, will
be talking on this topic. Kimberley Diamonds
finalised its acquisition of Lerala earlier this
year. It said then that it would target a produc-
tion rate of approximately 400 000 carats per
annum, with its plans for re-opening the mine
including modifying the 230 t/h processing and
recovery plant situated on site to reach 1,9 Mt/a
of ore throughput. More recently, however, it
has announced that it would delay the recom-
missioning “until the appropriate funding is
available, either from operating cash flow or
external sources”.
Diamond exploration will be covered by,
amongst others, Jim Davidson, Technical
Director of Petra Diamonds, and Brent Bittner
of Pangolin Diamonds. Petra, which oper-
ates mines in South Africa and Tanzania, has
diamond prospecting licences in Botswana cov-
ering over 20 000 km
2
, its key prospect being
the KX36 kimberlite in the Central Kalahari,
while Pangolin has a number of licence areas,
encompassing the Tsabong North, Jwaneng
South, Malatswae and Mmadinare projects.
The most promising emerging sectors within
Botswana’s mining industry are copper and coal
(and, in the longer term, uranium). The copper
mining sector is the most advanced with two
dedicated copper mining operations – both of
which have had their problems – now up and
running. One is the Boseto mine of Australia’s
Discovery Metals, which has under-performed
Preview –
eleventh
Botswana
Resource Sector Conference
Mining in Botswana – the
‘sand tunnel’ forming part
of the decline accessing
the new Ghaghoo
diamond mine of Gem
Diamonds in the Central
Kalahari. When it enters
commercial production
later this year, Ghaghoo
will rank as Botswana’s first
underground diamond mine
(photo: Arthur Tassell).
This year’s Botswana Resource Sector Conference, the eleventh in the series, will be held on 10 and
11 June at the usual venue, the Gaborone International Convention Centre, and – based on previous
attendance – is expected to attract around 400 delegates. The conference will take place against the
backdrop of a Botswanan mining industry which is healthy and making steady progress towards the
goal of a reduced reliance on diamond mining. Some 22 speakers have been lined up for the event,
which is to be opened by Kitso Mokaila, Botswana’s Minister of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources.
