Overview
Stage | Production |
Mine Type | Open Pit |
Commodities |
|
Mining Method |
|
Processing |
- Dense media separation
- X-Ray sorting
|
Mine Life | 16 years (as of Jan 1, 2019) |
Damtshaa diamond mine in Botswana, which was placed onto care and maintenance from 1 January 2016, successfully achieved a restart in the fourth quarter of 2017, in preparation for 2018 production. |
Source:
Anglo American owns 85% of De Beers Group, the world's leading diamond company. The remaining 15% is owned by the Government of the Republic of Botswana (GRB). De Beers Group and its partners produce around one third of the world's rough diamonds, by value.
Debswana is a joint venture between the government of Botswana and the South African diamond company De Beers; each party owns 50% of the company.
Summary:
Four small diamond pipes (B/K1, B/K9, B/K12 and B/K15) were discovered between 1967 and 1972 in an area 20km east of the Orapa kimberlite pipe. These pipes were grouped to form the Damtshaa Mine, the youngest of the Debswana mines which began operation in 2003, and are managed along with Letlhakane Mine from the Orapa operation. The ore grade for B/K9 and B/K12, the kimberlites currently mined, is about 29 cpht and annual production is a maximum of about 330,000 carats. B/K9, at 11.5 hectares, is the larger of the two mined pipes and has a current area of excavation of about 21 hectares, and a depth below surface of 50m. B/K12 pipe area at surface measures 3.2 hectares and the current area of excavation is 7 hectares, with the pit bottom 63m below ground level.
Summary:
First discovered in 1966, the Orapa Regime (cluster) consists of Orapa, Letlhakane and Damtshaa Mines, which are open-pit operations using traditional truck and shovel methods, and clustered in a radius of under 25km in the Central District of Botswana.
Processing
- Dense media separation
- X-Ray sorting
Source:
Summary:
The ore produced at Damtshaa is processed at a processing plant at its sister mine, the Orapa diamond mine, about 20 km (12 mi) distant. The Damtshaa mine is also managed from the Orapa mine
The tonnes mined from A/K1 pit feed two processing plants, Orapa 1 and Orapa 2. The concept of diamond processing, entails stages of comminution to progressively reduce the particle size of the ore, and screen it into a feed size envelope desirable for the concentration process. A major outcome of the comminution process is diamond liberation; a process whereby the locked-up stones are released from the host rocks. Once the diamonds are liberated, they can now be separated from the gangue material into a concentrate by the Dense Medium Separation process.
Liberation is the fundamental activity of any diamond processing operation. The state of liberation in a plant, while not measurable, is diagnosed by the level of grind (fracture) completed by the plant at any given sub-stage ........

Production:
Commodity | Units | 2015 | 2014 |
Diamond
|
carats
| 221,000 | 303,000 |
All production numbers are expressed as mineral.
Operational Metrics:
Metrics | 2015 |
Total tonnes mined
| 6,341,311 t |
Tonnes processed
| 1,498,856 t |
Reserves at December 31, 2019:
Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained carats |
Probable
|
23.2 Mt
|
Diamond
|
18 cpht
|
4.2 M carats
|
Indicated
|
3.7 Mt
|
Diamond
|
22.7 cpht
|
0.8 M carats
|
Inferred
|
22 Mt
|
Diamond
|
24.2 cpht
|
5.3 M carats
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
- Subscription is required.
Aerial view:
- Subscription is required.