Studies are currently at an early stage to evaluate options for extending the life of the mines beyond the existing open pit operations. This will ensure long term sustainability up to 2050 and beyond.
At Jwaneng Mine, the options to extend the life of the open pit beyond Cut 8 are being investigated. Options for a Cut 9 expansion and a possible Cut 10 or underground mine are being evaluated. To obtain information on the resources at depth (beyond 1000m) a study to evaluate the resources at depth has also been initiated.
At Orapa Mine, a detailed design study is also underway to extend the life of the mine beyond the current open pit (Cut 2).
At Letlhakane Mine, the current open pit operations are coming to the end of their life. There is a project underway to construct a tailings treatment plant to retreat old tailings. This has the potential to extend the life of the operation by another 20 years.
Jwaneng Modular Treatment Plant
Construction and commissioning of the Jwaneng Modular Plant is complete with the first carats recovered in November 2014. The primary objective of the project was to build a modular treatment plant to treat the Jwaneng Mine tailings resource. The plant is a stand-alone two million tons per annum modular tailings treatment facility.
The project maintained a positive safety record with just over 1,800,000 hours and no Lost Time Injuries recorded for the entire duration of the project.
Orapa Workshops Project
In Orapa, our oldest mine, construction of an Earthmoving Workshop commenced in 2013 and will be completed during the course of this year. This project aims to build a new Earthmoving workshop complex for Orapa to replace the current workshops which have become too small for the larger fleet and for the Mine’s requirements leading up to 2018.
Grease Plant in Orapa
The project is complete. This project uses a grease based solution to recover small diamonds that would otherwise be lost during processing. The “Yellow diamond project” as it is also known, due to the overwhelming volume of yellow diamonds being recuperated by the project delivered its first batch in November 2014.