Diamond giant De Beers on Thursday unveiled plans to mine diamonds off South Africa’s West Coast, saying output could touch 240 000 carats annually once the programme was up and running next year.
De Beers said that it was equipping a ship with an underwater crawling mining device. It is the company’s “first marine diamond mining project in South Africa”, a company statement said.
The British firm A and P Tyne is to convert a De Beers ship into the mining vessel, while the Johannesburg-based firm Bateman Africa will design and fit a diamond treatment plant on board.
Earlier this year, De Beers approved R976-million for the project.
“De Beers expects to commence offshore mining towards the second quarter of 2007 and the mining vessel is expected to yield up to 240 000 carats a year once fully commissioned,” the statement said.
“This is an extremely important and exciting undertaking … It is the culmination of 22 years of exploration and investigation into mining the deep sea areas off the Namaqualand coast,” it added.
De Beers is the world’s largest diamond company. It sold gemstones worth $6,5-billion last year, an increase of 15% over 2004. — AFP