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It’s in Botswana, a sparsely populated country in
southern Africa, that Jwaneng, one of the most valuable
diamond mines in the world, was discovered in 1972
by De Beers’ geologists. Ten years later, the mine
commenced operations, yielding about 12 million
carats per year. The ore that is mined at Jwaneng is
particularly rich in high-quality diamonds. Jwaneng
represents 60-70 per cent of the overall revenues of
Debswana, the joint venture between De Beers and
the Government of the Republic of Botswana.
The mine has been extended through various
programmes, gradually unearthing new parts of
the ore body by deepening the mine pit (see chart
below). The most recent of these projects, known as
Cut 8, will remove an initial 500 million tonnes of
waste earth to expose the ore and, to ultimately,
recover more than 100 million additional carats and
prolong the life of the mine to at least 2028. The
project began in 2010 and the total investment cost is
US$3 billion – the single largest private investment in
Botswana’s history.
JWANENG IS ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE DIAMOND MINES IN THE WORLD
Mining always carries safety risks, and while open-pit
mines such as Jwaneng are generally seen as safer
than underground mines, risks remain. Technology
can help improve safety, however: in October 2013, a
slope failure was predicted using stability analysis. As
a result, the mine was evacuated ahead of the actual
slope collapse and no workers were harmed, unlike
an earlier instance in 2012, when a similar incident
tragically resulted in a loss of life.
D I AMONDS I N
THE DESERT
CUT-7
CUT-7
CUT-6
CUT-5
CUT-5
CUT-6
CUT-8
CUT-8
CENTRE
PIPE
CENTREPIPE
OVERHEADVIEW
N
1640 M
2017
624 M
2320 M
(diamond bearing ore)
120 1
033 M
CROSS SECTION OF THE
JWANENG MINE, BOTSWANA