Diamond-mining giant De Beers Consolidated Mines has launched a book archiving the experiences of geologists and mine exploration in Africa.

Prospecting in Africa, launched last month, was edited by geologists Mike de Wit, Bob Liddle and Eddie Köstlin, and records the experiences and adventures of some of the early De Beers explorers looking for kimberlites in Africa, prior to 1970.

“It captures the adventures of some of the early successes during that period. Despite the rather basic nature of the technology available to them, they were able to cover large areas of Southern, Central and East Africa. Many kimberlites were found, which culminated in the discovery of Orapa and led the way to other notable successes in the 1970s and 1980s. “The best way of describing this was by persuading some of those early explorers to describe their memorable experience in their own words,” according to a media statement on the book.

In the book, De Wit remarks that the period from the 1950s to the 1980s is often referred to as the golden era for De Beers, when the rich kimberlite deposits of Orapa, Letlhakane, Jwaneng and Venetia were discovered; the West Coast mines expanded their resource base and marine deposits off the West Coast of Southern Africa were evaluated.

De Wit states these developments ensured that De Beers retained its role as the industry leader. The narratives in the book, restricted to the early part of this era, give the reader some idea of the amount of time and effort that went into these successes. They underline the importance of systematic exploration, which, as some of the stories highlight, was often done under more than difficult circumstances.

In regional exploration programmes, negative results are often as important as finding kimberlites, and this has been illustrated by the fact that, in Africa, no new significant diamond mines have been developed in areas that were previously covered by De Beers.

Further, De Wit points out the book clearly shows the importance of having ‘boots on the ground’ to find world-class deposits, which cannot be replaced by modern armchair targeting or computer modelling. “Exploration is a long-term investment that can stretch over many years and requires millions of dollars, something that can only come from the private sector,” he adds.

Speaking at the event, De Beers chairperson Nicky Oppenheimer praised the explorers of yesteryear. “People were so determined, inno- vative and skilful and on that skill rests the success of De Beers. We look to them to make sure De Beers lasts another 100 years.

“We are producing a product from the mines, and every carat we take out is one fewer, so we have to find new mines and we have to use that same skill, that same innovativeness as was used in the past, recorded in this book, into the future,” he concluded.

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