The mine is an open pit operation based upon the 146 hectare Mwadui kimberlite pipe, which is the world’s largest economic kimberlite to have seen continuous mining.

Despite having been in operation since 1940, the pit is only 95 metres at its deepest point due to the large size of the deposit. The low grade of the deposit is countered by the high value of its diamonds and lends itself well to high volume, bulk mining methods.

The mine is an open pit operation based upon the 146 hectare Mwadui kimberlite pipe, which is one of the world’s largest economic kimberlites.

Despite having been in operation since 1940, the pit is only 105 metres at its deepest point due to the large size of the deposit. The low grade of the deposit is countered by the high value of its diamonds and lends itself well to high volume, bulk mining methods.

Once a diamond operation yields ore, the diamonds must be sorted from the other materials. Excavated ore is transported to a processing plant.

The kimberlite is first crushed and then processed through the plant, which consists of a series of screens, jigs and scrubbers and a gravity pan or DMS plant to remove lighter particles and create a concentrate of heavy material, which includes the diamonds.

Diamonds are then extracted from this material by using an X-ray machine and/or grease table and checked by hand sorting. Most diamonds luminesce under X-rays and can therefore be identified and separated in final recovery. However, some diamonds – particularly more valuable Type II stones – do not respond well to X-rays, so grease tables are used to recover such stones. As diamonds are hydrophobic (meaning they repel water), they stick to the grease while the rest of the wet concentrate runs off.

The treatment of ROM kimberlite ore produces a sink (high den ........