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DIAMONDS
October 2016
MODERN MINING
25
Comparing this early view
of the site (late 2014) with
our photo on page 22 shows
just howmuch Firestone has
accomplished over the past
two years.
Brown pointed out at the media briefing, how-
ever, this is a conservative estimate and could
be lifted depending on the occurrence of large
stones, as Firestone has not factored in any-
thing above 100 carats into its figures. He also
noted that Liqhobong has a good population
of ‘fancy yellows’ – with one stone recovered
from the trial mining campaign having sold for
a price translating into US$10 000/carat.
Commenting on the reasons Firestone
has been successful in its development of
Liqhobong, Brown said a key factor was that
it had assembled the right team – with col-
lectively over 200 years of mine development
experience – to construct the project. He
noted that a critical appointment early on (in
February 2014) was that of his long-term col-
league at De Beers, Glenn Black, as Chief Project
Officer. Before leaving the Group in 2012, Black
enjoyed a long 22-year career with De Beers,
during which time he worked on major proj-
ects in Namibia, South Africa (the Voorspoed
mine, among others), Canada and Botswana. He
reportedly successfully delivered nine of the
largest and most complex projects undertaken
during this period by De Beers.
Brown said Firestone had also appointed
well qualified contractors, all of whom had
“bought in to Firestone’s culture”. DRA was
selected in 2014 as the EPCM contractor while
other awards included the residue storage facil-
ity or RSF (Turnkey Civils Lesotho or TCL), the
civils and earthworks (Stefanutti Stocks) and
the structural, mechanical, piping and plate-
work or SMPP (SMEI Projects).
Moving forward, Firestone has taken the
decision to operate the process plant itself
while the mining will be undertaken on a con-
tractor basis. A long-term mining contract is
still to go out to tender but, in the interim, TCL
will fulfill the role.
An experienced production team to run the
mine has been appointed and it will be led by
Paul Bosma, yet another ‘graduate’ of De Beers,
with Ernst du Plessis as Engineering Manager
and Gideon Scheepers as Metallurgical
Manager. Brown is confident that the team has
the right qualifications to make a success of the
mine. As he told the media group, “We’ve built
this mine properly and we’re going to run it
properly as well.”
Liqhobong will be Lesotho’s third operating
diamond mine, after Letšeng and Kao, the lat-
ter operated by Namakwa Diamonds subsidiary,
Storm Mountain Diamonds. Three advanced
projects are Lemphane, owned by Paragon
Diamonds, Mothae, previously in the Lucara
stable but now in the hands of the Government
of Lesotho, and Kolo, owned by French com-
pany Batla Minerals. Liqhobong, Letšeng, Kao
and Lemphane are all located close to each
other in the Lemphane-Robert kimberlite belt
while Kolo is located 38 km south-west of
Maseru in the Mafeteng District.
Report by Arthur Tassell, photos courtesy of Firestone
Diamonds