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Botswana
Karowe UG Project (Karowe)

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 Location:
15 km SW from Letlhakane, Botswana

  Project Contacts:
Plot 67782, Block 8 Industrial, Diamond Technology Park
P O Box AE 668
Gaborone
Botswana
Phone  ...  Subscription required
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Overview

StageConstruction
Mine TypeUnderground
Commodities
  • Diamond
Mining Method
  • Longhole shrinkage
Production Start...
Mine Life2040


Owners

Source: p. 3
CompanyInterestOwnership
Lucara Diamond Corp. 100 % Indirect
Ownership Tree
Karowe is 100% owned by Lucara Diamond Corp. through its 100% owned subsidiary Lucara Botswana (Pty) Ltd. (formerly, Boteti Mining (Pty) Ltd.).

Contractors

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Deposit Type

  • Kimberlite


Summary:

The Karowe Mine is exploiting the AK6 kimberlite which is part of the Orapa Kimberlite Field (OKF) in the Central District of Botswana. The OKF includes at least 83 kimberlite bodies of post-Karoo age. Three of these (AK1, BK9, and AK6) have been, or are currently being mined and four (BK1, BK11, BK12 and BK15) are recognized as potentially economic deposits. The Karowe Mine is one of the world’s most significant producers of large and high-value diamonds including Type IIa and coloured diamonds.

The OKF lies on the northern edge of the Central Kalahari Karoo Basin along which the Karoo succession dips very gently to the south-southwest and off-laps against Precambrian rocks that occur at shallow depth within the Makgadikgadi Depression. The country rock at Karowe is sub-outcropping flood basalt of the Stormberg Lava Group (~130 m thick), underlain by a condensed sequence of Upper Carboniferous to Triassic sedimentary rocks of the Karoo Supergroup (~345 m thick), below which is the granitic basement

AK6 is a roughly north-south trending elongate kimberlite body with a surface expression of ~3.3 ha and maximum area of ~8 ha at approximately 120 m below surface. It comprises three geologically distinct, coalescing pipes known as the North, Centre and South Lobes that taper with depth into discrete roots. The kimberlite in each lobe is different, in terms of its textural characteristics, relative proportion of internal country rock dilution, degree of weat ........


Mining Methods

  • Longhole shrinkage


Summary:

The Karowe Mine is an existing open pit operation, which has been in production since 2012. Conventional open pit drill and blast mining with diesel excavators and trucks provide an average annual 2.6 Mt of kimberlite feed to the mill. All open pit mining activities are performed by Botswanan mine contractors working 365 days per year on three, eight-hour shifts in the pit and two, 12-hour shifts in the processing facility. The open pit mine operation is expected to terminate mid-2025, ending at an elevation of approximately 700 masl.

There are substantial resources remaining below the economic extents of the open pit that may be extracted by underground mine methods. A 7,200 t/d shaft operation utilizing long hole shrinkage mining (a form of fully-assisted caving) is proposed to provide an additional 13 years of mine life to the Karowe operation after a five-year construction period commencing in 2020.

The Karowe resource contains three distinct coalescing pipes, referred to as the North, Centre, and South Lobe. All lobes are outcropping, dip vertically, and vary in diameter and depth. The South Lobe is the largest of the three, and its Indicated Resources extend approximately 760 mbs (from 1,010 masl to 250 masl). The North and Centre Lobes extend below the open pit limit but have been excluded from the planned underground mine as they are inferred at depth and are of low value.

The long hole shrinkage method (LHS) is planned to systematic ........


Crushing and Grinding
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Processing

Flow Sheet: Subscription required

Summary:

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Projected Production:

CommodityUnitsLOM
Diamond k carats 7,838

Operational Metrics:

Metrics
Daily ore mining rate 7,200 t *
Waste tonnes, LOM 13,432 kt *
Ore tonnes mined, LOM 49,969 kt *
Daily processing rate 7.4 kt *
Tonnes processed, LOM 56,029 kt *
Annual processing rate 2.7 Mt *
* According to 2019 study.

Reserves at December 25, 2021:
Mineral Reserves are estimated at a cut-off value of US$33/t based on an OP and UG mining cost of US$11/t, a processing cost of US$15/t and a G&A cost of US$7/t. Process recovery of the diamonds was assumed to be 100% as the recoveries were included in the mineral resource block model assumptions and therefore have taken recoveries into account. All of the kimberlite material in the South Lobe is above the cut-off value.
Mineral Resources are quoted above a +1.25 mm bottom cut-off and have been factored to account for diamond losses within
the smaller sieve classes expected within the current configuration of the Karowe Mine process plant. Mineral Resources are exclusive of all mine stockpile material.

CategoryOreTypeTonnage CommodityGradeContained carats
Probable In-Situ (UG) 37.4 Mt Diamond 14 cpht 5,226 M carats
Indicated Total 46.43 Mt Diamond 15.5 cpht 7,207 M carats
Inferred Total 6.9 Mt Diamond 17.3 cpht 1,192 M carats

Commodity Production Costs:

CommodityUnitsAverage
Cash costs Diamond USD  ......  Subscription required&nbs
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Diamond USD  ......  Subscription required&nbs
Assumed price Diamond USD  ......  Subscription required&nbs
* According to 2019 study / presentation.

Operating Costs:

Units2019
OP mining costs ($/t mined) USD 4.71 *
UG mining costs ($/t mined) USD  ......  Subscription required
Combined mining costs ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required
Processing costs ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required
G&A ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required
* According to 2019 study.
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

2019 Study Costs and Valuation Metrics :

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Pre-Production capital costs $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Sustaining CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Total CapEx $M USD  ......  Subscription required
OP OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscription required
UG OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Processing OpEx $M USD 833.4
G&A costs $M USD 323.2
Total OpEx $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Total Taxes $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Royalty payments $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Gross revenue (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Net revenue (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscription required
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax NPV @ 0% $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscription required
After-tax NPV @ 0% $M USD  ......  Subscription required
After-tax NPV @ 8% $M USD  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscription required
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscription required
Pre-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscription required
After-tax payback period, years  ......  Subscription required
Subscription required - Subscription is required.


Proposed Heavy Mobile Equipment as of September 26, 2019:
HME TypeSizeQuantity
Bolter ....................... Subscription required
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Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Mine Management:

Job TitleNamePhoneEmailProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 26, 2019
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 26, 2019
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....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 15, 2022
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 15, 2022
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Aug 15, 2022
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Staff:

Total WorkforceYear
Subscription required 2019

Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
Press Release 2022
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2019
Preliminary Economic Assessment 2017
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Subscription required - Subscription is required.

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