Debswana Major Projects commonly referred to at Horizon 2 Projects is on a steadfast path to deliver high impact projects for the business. The Large Diamond Pilot project, whose footprint lies within Jwaneng Mine, is currently in operation after a successful on-time and on-budget construction execution.
The pilot plant project was established to inform a business case for an optimised large diamonds recovery solution and was, therefore designed with due consideration for re-use as a final solution after a two-year piloting exercise.
The facility has a peak treatment capacity of 600 tons per hour and deploys the latest diamond recovery technology specifically designed to identify and recover large stones. This technology, known as X-Ray Transmission (XRT), is the first of its kind for Debswana and has a unique capability of high detection rate for all diamonds, including Type-II diamonds, compared to other traditional technologies. Type IIa diamonds are the most chemically pure diamonds and have the highest thermal conductivity and are often colorless.
The Large Diamond Pilot project interfaces with Jwaneng Main Treatment Plant (MTP) process to enable recovery of +25mm diamonds prior to the secondary crushing circuit.