Debswana Diamond, a 50:50 joint venture between De Beers Group and the government of Botswana, will invest BWP65bn ($6bn) to build an underground diamond mine at Jwaneng in Botswana.
The company’s head of transformation and innovation Thabo Balopi said that the underground mine will involve over 360km of tunnel development. Full production from the underground mine is expected to be achieved by 2034.
The new underground mine at Jwaneng is projected to yield up to nine million carats per year, which will help in extending the lifespan of the current open pit operation by 20 years.
Bloomberg quoted Balopi as saying that by 2023, the mine will have an early access decline.
A final decision us yet to be made by the board of Debswana Diamond regarding the financing of the underground project, Debswana Diamond technical services head Len Dimbungu said.
The Jwaneng diamond mine, which began operations in 1982, had gone through several expansion projects. This includes the $2bn Cut-9 project, which is aimed at extending the life of the diamond mine to 2035.
Considered to be among the world’s richest diamond mines in terms of value, Jwaneng is located in south central Botswana, nearly 257km west of the country’s capital Gaborone.
Debswana Diamond expects to realise additional revenue of at least BWP10bn ($924m) over the coming four years, courtesy of a new 5-year business strategy adopted in 2020, reported Reuters.
The strategy, which calls for the restructuring of mines, has a goal of boosting efficiencies across the group’s operations.
