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Location: 12 km NW from Letlhakane, Botswana
Private Bag 001JwanengBotswana
Stay on top of the latest gold discoveries. Examine the latest updates on drilling outcomes spanning various commodities.
Mining scale, mining and mill throughput capaciites.Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Shaft depth, mining scale, backfill type and mill throughput data.Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Equipment type, model, size and quantity.Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Camp size, mine location and contacts.Full profiles of select mines and projects.
Debswana Diamond Company (Pty) Ltd is a joint venture between the government of Botswana and the South African diamond company De Beers; each party owns 50% of the company.
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.The kimberlite pipes located within mining licences form part of the Cretaceous-aged (144–65 Ma) Orapa Kimberlite Cluster. These kimberlites were emplaced through the complete sequence of local equivalents of the Karoo Supergroup rocks, which overlie rocks of the early Proterozoic Magondi Mobile Belt. The latter have been thrust over the western edge of the Kaapvaal Craton, based on xenolith studies from Orapa and Letlhakane. The cratonic rocks in this area are comprised of Archaean-aged tonalitic gneiss. The Karoo Stormberg basalt at the top of the Karoo Supergroup is overlain by a thin cover of the Kalahari sands.The larger kimberlite bodies are typically steep-sided, carrotshaped diatremes, but there are many examples of magmatic kimberlite plugs and small intrusions that terminate at the base of the basalt, or which have been emplaced through the basalt as small dykes. The kimberlite bodies consist of several texturally distinct phases of kimberlite, varying from volcaniclastic to pyroclastic to hypabyssal kimberlite. The kimberlites at Orapa, Letlhakane and Damtshaa are all monogenetic (multi-vent) volcanoes.
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