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MODERN MINING
March 2016
feature
DIAMONDS
L
iqhobong is probably the
only full-scale diamond
mine under construc-
tion in Southern Africa,
with most other diamond
projects currently underway – for
example, the Venetia Underground
Project, the Lace underground mine
in the Free State, the C-Cut at Cul-
linan or the small Lerala project in
Botswana – being more accu-
rately categorised as ‘brownfield’
developments. Some might argue
that Liqhobong has also seen some
previous commercial mining
but it is nevertheless prob-
ably fair to describe it as a
‘greenfield’ project as the
previous small plant on
site and virtually all re-
Liqhobong project on course
Primary crusher steelwork
at the Liqhobong site in
January this year.
Stuart Brown, CEO of Firestone
Diamonds.
Firestone Diamonds (Firestone) is making excellent progress on the construction
of its new Liqhobong kimberlite mine in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho, with
the project 65 % complete (as at the end of January) and on course to com-
mission and start production in the last quarter of this year. The site has also
enjoyed an unblemished safety record thus far with more than 2 million man
hours having been worked by a labour force that numbers nearly 1 000 people
without a single LTI having being recorded.
Modern Mining’s
Arthur Tassell
recently discussed the project with Firestone’s CEO, Stuart Brown.