After more than 150 years of intensive mining following the discovery of the Eureka Diamond on the banks of the Orange River in 1867, South Africa’s diamond industry remains among the top 5 largest producers in the world.
Initial discoveries were of alluvial diamonds (the mining of which continues today along the southern banks of the Orange River). Yet the richest diamond discoveries came to be found in deposits in the the ‘yellow’ and ‘blue’ ground that came to be called kimberlites (after the town Kimberly, near where the first kimberlite was discovered). These diamond-rich kimberlites are ancient, solidified magma ‘pipes’ that extend approximately 2.5 km below the Earth’s surface. They are the remnants of volcanic bursts that brought the minerals – formed some 3.3 billion years ago under conditions of intense heat and pressure – from the Earth’s upper mantle to the crust.
Diamonds in South Africa are also mined off the shore of the country’s north-western coastline.
Amongst the highest-quality gems ever found, South African diamonds are typically round dodecahedral stones in high whites, pinks and blues.
In 2017, over 60% of South Africa’s diamonds came from the Venetia Mine in Limpopo Province and the Finsch Mine in the Northern Cape.
De Beer’s Venetia Mine is South Africa’s largest producer of diamonds. The open-pit phase of the mine was launched in 1992 and is expected to run until between 2020 and 2023, with the Venetia Underground Project currently underway, which will extend the extraction of the deposit to around 2046. The Venetia Mine has an annual output of around 3 million carats, with a total resource estimate of 94 million carats.
The second largest diamond-producing mine is Petra Diamonds’ Finsch Mine (established in 1978), which produced 2.1 million carats in 2017. Various expansion projects in different stages of development are underway or are planned for the future. The mine has a significant gross resource of 45 million carats.
Another famous diamond mine in South Africa is the Cullinan Mine (or Premier Mine), situated about 40 km east of Pretoria, which in 1905 yielded the world’s largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered, the Cullinan Diamond. Already in production for over 100 years, mining operations are currently being expanded, which will increase production from 920 000 carats to 2.6 million carats by 2019.
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