The Venetia kimberlite cluster was emplaced into the 2 Ga high grade metamorphic Central Zone of the Limpopo Mobile belt. This belt consists of three tectonic units: Southern Marginal Zone, Central Zone and Northern Marginal Zone, intruded by Proterozoic dolerite dykes and sills. The kimberlite cluster consists of 13 pipes and one external dyke. The current Diamond Resource is represented by four of these pipes, i.e. K01, K02, K03 and K04, totalling 27.3 ha at the current land surface. The remaining kimberlites are all less than 1.0 ha in size, with the majority being less than 0.2 ha in size. The regional structure within the Central Zone played a significant role in controlling the emplacement of the kimberlites and resulted in a prominent west-north west orientation of the pipe shapes. The kimberlite bodies are characterised by steep-sided and irregular shapes as a result of the fault, joint and fracture orientations. They consist of several texturally distinct phases of kimberlite, varying from several types of volcaniclastic kimberlite lapilli tuffs to several coherent kimberlite types. All three of the main kimberlites (K01, K02 and K03) are monogenetic pipe complexes characterised by multiple kimberlite emplacement events.

Open pit mining was completed, as scheduled, in 2022 and the transition is already well under way to convert to underground mining. The $2.1 billion Venetia Underground project (VUP) is expected to extend the life of the mine to 2047 and yield an estimated 88 million carats. The cave mining method allows underground mines to achieve the same type of production rates that are normally associated with open pit mines and this is the case at Venetia. Once in full production, the VUP will produce approximately 6 Mt/y ROM to deliver between 4.5 and 5.5 million carats of diamonds a year. The Venetia Underground Project will extend production at Venetia to at least 2046, and will allow the company to fully access both the K01 and K02 kimberlites at depth. K02 is more uniform in nature and will produce some 4 Mt/y while for K01 has more intrusions and therefore more waste; it will produce about 1.9 Mt/y. The mining method will be a specially modified version of sub-level caving. The mine will use two 1,070 m shafts – production and service, each concrete lined and 7 m in diameter. A twin decline has also been successfully developed and has been utilised to tram waste material from the underground workings to the back fill of the K2 open pit.

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