Summary

Mine Type	Open Pit
Status	Active
Commodities	Diamond
Mining Method	Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start	...
Snapshot	The Lower Orange River Operations covers mining areas of Baken mine, Bloeddrif mine and Reuning mine. Lower Orange River Diamonds Proprietary Ltd. (LOR), the owner of mining leases, continues mining by via multiple JVs. Each of these Joint Venture partners have been allocated separate mining sites throughout the mining area, with each Joint Venture partner supplying it’s own Plant and Equipment and conducting mining operations at it’s own cost and expense to mine virgin gravels, and to process the stock piles. LOR and none of the partner companies publicly report production or publish financial statements.

Deposit type

• Paleoplacer

Summary:

This operation mines the Baken palaeochannel, an ancient riverbed containing alluvial diamonds washed downstream from kimberlite (diamond-bearing volcanic rock) pipes millions of years ago.

The Baken area is predominantly underlain by the basement rocks of the Holgat Formation, comprising interbedded dolomites, metapelites and arenites.

The Baken paleo-channel is a classic proto-aged oxbow feature which has been cut-off from the present-day Orange River valley. It represents a remnant of a meandering fluvial system caused by a change in the direction of the river. It is characterised by the deposition of heavy minerals in areas where local conditions like obstructions or depressions, rising bedrock, junctions of crosschannels, etcetera, resulted in a loss of energy. It is filled with an upward fining sequence of sediments correlated with the Arries Drift Gravel formation, comprising a coarse-grained diamondiferous gravel unit (basal gravel) at its base, overlain by often lenticular beds of more sandy gravel (suspended gravel).

The basement geology of the Bloeddrif area is dominated by the rocks of the Kaigas Formation, comprising interbedded dolomites, metapelites and arenites. The gravel suites associated with both the proto and meso terraces, characteristic of the Baken area, are also present at Bloeddrif.

The proto-sediments at Bloeddrif are predominantly preserved within two cut-off meanders, named B1 and B2, which are partially surrounded by prominent dolomite hills. These terraces are mid-Miocene in age (19 Ma to 17 Ma). Smaller remnants of proto gravel are also present in deep scour pools, which are generally overlain by younger meso-sediments.

The country rock in the area consists of schist, dolomite and metapelite/arenite, with roughly a north-south strike direction and a dip to the west. The dolomite unit constitutes a line of isolated hills, which played a major role in the preservation of some of the proto deposits.

Gravels at the outlet side of both the B1 and B2 paleo-channels have been removed by mining activities conducted by Octha Diamond Company prior to Trans Hex’s involvement. Octha Diamond Company also excavated a number of large sampling trenches in the B1, B2 and Xarries deposits for which no results are available.

Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Processing

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Commodity Production

Operational metrics