Debswana Diamond Company, a joint venture between Botswana government and De beers Group, continue to be the main pioneer in the latter’s operations as a leader in terms of production levels.
Among all of De beers site operations, Debswana remains at the summit with most of the rough diamonds coming from Jwaneng, Orapa and Letlhakane mines.
Speaking at the presentation of the De beers Group financial results, Executive Vice President Paul Rowley said the rough diamond production increased by 7 percent to 34.6 million carats from 32.3 million carats which was produced in the year 2021.
As a result ,Botswana operations contributed 24.1 million carats which is an 8 percent increase from the previous 22.3 million carats produced in 2021.The great performance by Botswana operations are attributable to strong plant performance at both Orapa and Jwaneng mines as well as planned higher grade at Orapa.
“This reflect a strong operational performance and higher planned levels of production to meet continued strong demand for rough diamonds. As a result, we are investing more on marketing initiatives and our investment in Cut 9 in Jwaneng is progressing as well .
We aim for long term investment for sustainability into the the future since consumer demand is driven by the desire for natural diamonds,” said Rowley. Having started in 2019,the Jwaneng Cut 9 is expected to extend the mine life to 2035 while yielding approximately 53 million carats.
With Botswana leading the pack in production, South Africa came in second with a production of 5.5 million carats which is a 4 percent increase from 5.3 million carats raked in last year. The performance by the South African pits is mainly due to treatment of higher grade ore from the final cut of the open pit at Venetia. Further, the mine will soon transition to underground operations this year following the conclusion of mining the open pit in December 2022.
Namibian operations saw its production jumping to 46 percent to 2.1 million carats from 1.5 million carats realised in 2021.The huge success is attributed to the commissioning of the Benguela Gem Diamond vessel which was delivered ahead of schedule and below the budget as well as treatment of high grade ore the country’s operations .
However, the Canada operations saw its production dwindling by 11 percent to 2.8 million carats from 3.2 million carats which was previously produced in 2021,with tight labour markets and treatment of low grade ore being at the forefront of the poor performance.
“We remain committed into sustainable operations in Botswana therefore investment into long-term projects here to ensure continued supply of diamonds and this good performance means a benefit for the country. Evolving rough diamonds sales means more beneficiation therefore a great year for both Debeers and Botswana, “he said. Meanwhile production guidance for 2023 is set at 30-33 million carats with a unit cost guidance of $80/carat.
Botswana and De beers Group’ relations dates back to 1969 when the partnership(Debswana) was established, however the first diamonds were discovered in the country in 1967.Through the joint venture Debswana, their operations include Jwaneng, Orapa, Letlhakane and Damtshaa which is now under care and maintenance.
