'A place of small stones'
The Jwaneng pipe was discovered in the Naledi River Valley ('Valley of the Stars'), Southern Botswana, in 1973.
The mine became fully operational in August 1982, when it was officialy opened by the then President of Botswana, His Excellency Sir Ketumile Masire.
In 2006, Jwaneng produced 15.6 million carats. In the coming years, production will vary according to the mining plans of approximately 12.5 to 15 million carats per year. This excellent rate of recovery, combined with the very high quality of the diamonds, continues to make Jwaneng Mine the richest diamond mine in the world, by value.
In 10 years, Jwaneng Mine is planning to move from open-cast mining into underground operations. This will begin a new chapter at Jwaneng Mine and extend the life of the operation by another 10-15 years.
In addition to achieving its annual production targets, Jwaneng mine maintains an excellent safety record. Since 1984, the mine has achieved one of the lowest disabling injury incident rates in Botswana. Last year (2006) the mine was awarded the OSHAS 18001 accreditation. The mine's first "five star" NOSA rating was achieved in January 1986 and has been maintained in subsequent years. Jwaneng will begin implementation of SAFEMap Competency Based Safety during the third quarter of 2006 to augment its excellent safety processes.
Jwaneng Mine also continues to retain the ISO 14001 Environmental certification and was the first organization in Botswana - and the first amongst the Debswana operations - to receive the ISO 14001 accreditation in 2000. Within the boundaries of the Jwaneng mining lease, there is the Jwana Game Park, which is proud to host a field unit of Cheetah Conservation Botswana. The game park is also host to the globally threatened Lappet-faced Vulture. Plans are being formulated to improve the park for educational and recreational activities.
