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MODERN MINING
July 2016
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COUNTRY FOCUS
BOTSWANA
N
o other diamond mine in the
world can boast this type of
production profile and indeed
Lucara CEO William Lamb is
on record as saying that Karowe
now accounts for about 60 % of the world’s
100-carat-plus diamond production – despite
being responsible for less than 0,5 % of total
global diamond production.
Of the seven stones that Karowe produced
last year that exceeded 300 carats, two – one of
1 111 carats and the other of 813 carats – were
particularly notable as they were respectively
the second and sixth largest gem quality dia-
monds ever mined. The larger of the two stones,
which has since been named
Lesedi la Rona
(‘Our Light’), is still in Lucara’s possession –
it failed to meet the reserve price at a recent
auction in London – but the smaller was sold
earlier this year for US$63 million, the highest
price ever achieved for a rough diamond.
Amazingly, these two large diamonds were
recovered on successive days in November
last year – along with a giant 374-carat stone
which, at any other time, would have been
highly newsworthy in its own right. All three,
incidentally, are rare Type IIa diamonds and
were mined from the prolific south lobe of
Karowe’s AK6 kimberlite, the kimberlite on
which the mine is based. AK6 comprises three
Incredible Karowe’s flood
Panoramic view of the open pit at Karowe. The mine – which was commisssioned in 2012 – is located in the Orapa Kimberlite Field near the town of Letlhakane.
Speaking at the recent Botswana Resource Sector Confer-
ence in Botswana, Lucara’s Gaborone-based Chief Operat-
ing Officer, Paul Day, said the company’s Karowe diamond
mine in the Orapa Kimberlite Field (OKF) – which it operates
through its Botswana subsidiary, Boteti Mining – was the
world’s pre-eminent producer of large diamonds. “We’ve
almost lost count of the number of big stones the mine’s
produced,” he told delegates. In 2015 alone, the mine recov-
ered over 700 stones greater than 10,8 carats – with 47 of
them larger than 100 carats, 20 larger than 200 carats and
seven larger than 300 carats.