Diamond & Jewelry News, Advice and Prices for Consumers
Diamond & Jewelry News, Advice and Prices for Consumers
August 30, 2010
I heard that De Beers are expanding their mining in the Jwaneng Mine, Botswana. Does this mean that they are back to mining in full scale after the slow year they had? What exactly is the scale of the new project: How many years is it supposed to last, how much money is invested in the project and most important - What is the potential profit that De Beers are expected to gain from the Jwaneng Mine's diamonds?
September 5, 2010
Jwaneng is by no means a new diamond mine nor a new project. It is one if not the most prominent diamond mine in Botswana and the whole of Africa. The news is that after slowing down mining in the recent months, a new expansion project is destined to take place in Jwaneng, which would most definitely result with an impressive quota of rough diamonds. Debswana, the corporation of De Beers and the Botswana Government, which manages diamond mining throughout the country has decided to unleash this huge dog, called Jwaneng Mine and to take advantage of its amazing natural diamond potential. This project is also know as the Cut-8, in which an impressive portion of Botswana's private sector is investing.
It is hard to predict how many years will the Jwaneng diamond mine continue to be prosperous, but assumptions indicate that it would be very profitable until 2025 at least. Debswana is about to invest half a billion US$ in the project, but with future plans, the total investment in the Cut-8 will probably reach $3 bollion by 2025. This expansion is obviously good news for the Botswana workers, with more than 1000 new job opportunities soon available. To give you some more stats, about 700 million tons of waste is expected to be removed from the location during the 15 yr project, the Jwaneng Mine is supposed to become as 650m deep and the most important stat: Almost 100 million carats of rough diamonds are expected to be unearthed at the site, which could be worth about $15 billion. Truly a diamond mine.
In a press conference, announcing the targets of the Cut-8 project, Gareth Penny, De Beers chairman, said that the plan is to manage to project in pedant manner, without causing any damage to the people and keeping the environement in a decent state. De Beers staff committy is sure that Debswana is capable of running such project with maximum success, according to Penny. Furthermore, this project reinforces the notion that the Jwaneng Mine is the most resourceful diamond mine in the world. Penny was certain that after the 2008-2009 global recession that demand for diamonds will return to be on a positive curve for many years to come, especially with the contribution of the new promising markets in India and China. I'm not sure if Penny actually believes his words or is trying to induce a notion that diamond supply is limited, but anyhow, he also said that in order not to reach a situation in which demand for diamonds exceeds supply, it is important to develop diamond mining projects like the one in Jwaneng.
Many questions still remain open, but one thing is certain - With the Jwaneng Diamond Mine occupying 70% of Debswana's income, Debswana's diamonds occupying half of Botswana's public income and 4/5 of Botswana's export incomes, the Cut-8 project will give a boost to Botswana's economy and provide De Beers a huge new supply of rough diamonds.
