Summary

Mine Type	Underground
Status	Active
Commodities	Diamond
Mining Method	Block caving Sub-level caving
Production Start	...
Mine Life	...
Snapshot	Kimberley (Ekapa) is both a tailings mineral resource reclamation operation and an underground mining operation with two operational shafts. Kimberley Underground comprises three kimberlite pipe mines in close proximity: Bultfontein (10 ha at surface), Dutoitspan (11 ha) and Wesselton. 7 Nov 2025 - Ekapa has been experiencing prolonged financial challenges due to the sustained downturn in the diamond market, a situation further exacerbated by the imposition of the 50% Trump Tariffs on India. The process of placing employees on layoff started early in September 2025. Ekapa has ceased operations on low-grade, high-volume dump material and are focusing exclusively on underground production. This strategic adjustment has necessitated a reduction in processing throughput. No production data is available in the public domain.

Deposit type

• Kimberlite

Summary:

The discovery of the Kimberley Mines has been described above. The final one of five major mines to be discovered was the Wesselton Mine (previously called the Premier Mine, and not be confused with the Premier Mine (now Cullinan Mine) at Cullinan near Pretoria. Wesselton was discovered in 1891.

The original surface outcrop was approximately 4 ha in area, and from historic descriptions it formed a low hill of whitish coloured rock, today interpreted to be the calcretized cap of surface kimberlite.

Rapid mining led to the kimberlite being mined out and the mine closed by 1914. This means that no modern geological investigations were ever carried-out on probably the “archetypical” kimberlite. Maps of the mine show that it had a pipe-like shape, and that it probably consisted of diatreme-facies kimberlite.

The “west-end” portion of the mine yielded abundant brown stones of generally inferior quality as well as smoky, cracked sharp-edged octahedral diamonds. The northern portion of the pipe produced mostly boart, the north western sector peculiar brown stones, and the central and southern portions yielded high proportions of cleavage fragments.

Kimberley Mine. The distinctive features being the low abundance of boart, the rarity of white stones with white cleavage, the rarity of large macles, the presence of dodecahedral fancy stones with a deep yellow colour and a greater abundance of large yellow diamonds. He also noted that the low-grade western portion of the mine yielded a considerable proportion of brown stones of inferior quality.

Mining Methods

- subscription is required.

Comminution

Crushers and Mills

- subscription is required.

Processing

- subscription is required.

Commodity Production

Operational metrics

Personnel

Job Title	Name	Profile	Ref. Date
.......................	.......................		Dec 11, 2025
.......................	.......................		Dec 11, 2025
.......................	.......................		Dec 11, 2025
.......................	.......................		Dec 11, 2025

Employees	Contractors	Total Workforce	Year
......	......	......	2022
......	......	......	2018
......	......	......	2017
......	......	......	2016