"We are actively conducting geological exploration in South Africa. We really believe that there are still a few mines in the country that meet the criteria of De Beers and Anglo American, "he says.
DBCM spends about R30 million on geological exploration. "We have just circled a fairly large area, using new geophysical technology to detect certain targets. Based on our results obtained from a rather large number of geological exploration licenses, to which applications were submitted - for which the majority was issued - we will conduct ground-based geophysical surveys that will enable us to identify targets.
"We regularly find goals that lead us to undiscovered kimberlites [geological formations], but not all kimberlites contain diamonds. In fact, a very small number of them contains enough diamonds to develop an effective mine. Approximately one out of every 1000 kimberlites can give us an economically feasible mine.
"The reason for our optimism is that a comparison of the geology of South Africa and the rest of the world shows that South Africa is one of the most interesting geological places in the world. A number of diamond mines, which the country created, confirm the geological importance for the production of diamonds, "- says Barton.
De Beers has been studying South Africa for many decades, but the current volumes of geological data began to be preserved since the late 1950s. De Beers has a huge database with this data logging.
"We assume that in these data a number of deposits are hidden. There were discovered easily accessible deposits, where you literally stumble on a naked rock of diamond ore.
The remaining kimberlites are either hidden under a considerable layer, or they are kimberlites that do not have the characteristic features that we know. Therefore, traditional methods did not indicate the presence of such kimberlites.
If a new technology and advanced theory are used, with which we learned about kimberlites using old data, we can get interesting results. According to data obtained in the past, we learned that some of the known kimberlites were 10 times larger than we originally thought. The diamond content was not sufficient to justify the deposit, but this gives the idea that somewhere among these data there is a deposit, "Barton says.
De Beers has a group working full time, conducting a study of these data. "We are very optimistic - we will still find the deposit in this way," he says.
Anglo American investment criteria are that it seeks to invest in the so-called "first-tier" assets, but the value of a diamond mine is determined not only by its size. You can find smaller deposits that give diamonds of excellent quality.
"Therefore, you may have a" second-tier "deposit, which is extremely lucrative, like our Victor mine in Canada. It is a small mine, but it produces valuable diamonds.
As soon as we find the mine, we will sit down with Anglo and decide whether we will develop it or give it to someone else. At the moment, we have focused on his search, "said Burton, with a big smile.
But the near future of De Beers in South Africa depends on the northern part of the country, the Venetia mine, where it spends over R20 billion to develop an underground mine below the huge current open pit.
"We are now setting the task of issuing the first volume from the underground mine in 2021 and reach full capacity by 2024," says Barton. The project is fully funded from internal sources. The current weakening of the diamond market did not affect the financing of the underground mine. "We are still earning enough money to pay on our own," he says.
The underground mine will extend the life of the Venice mine until the beginning of the 2040s with a production volume of 4.5 to 5 million carats per year. The mine has a number of options for the mining of these three kimberlite pipes.
The inclined mining output reached a depth of 650 meters, and the technological withdrawal of the main lifting shaft was recently completed. At the present time, supercharging coppers are being built for the main lifting shaft and maintenance.
At the Venice mine there are three main tubes and several smaller tubes. K1 - the tube of the field, can yield 6 million carats per year. The factory at the Venice mine was originally designed for processing 4.8 million tons a year, but later it was improved and now can process 6 million tons.
"But as the underground mine develops, the production profile will increase and replace 18% of our current production, which we will lose because of the sale of Kimberly mines. There will be some decline, but it will last for a relatively short time, "says Barton.
It's probably not the best time to sell Kimberly in terms of price, Barton admits.
"The market for diamonds is now somewhat weakened, but if you look at it from the point of view of achieving successful sales, this is the right moment, and all our previous sales were also successful, and they are still being produced. Kimberly still has resources of tailings with a relatively high content. "
Now the buyer is offered a combination of high and low content. A great advantage of the Kimberly mines is the low-content material, which will last at least until 2030. Providing the buyer an initial advantage of the order of three years due to materials with a high content gives a better chance of maintaining the activity for a longer period.
http://www.miningmx.com/page/special_reports/mining-yearbook/mining-yearbook-2015/1653118-De-Beers-looks-to-SA-with-fresh-eyes#.Vb_Dnfntmkr
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