TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Diamond giant De Beers and the government of Botswana expect to spend as much as $3-billion over the next 15 years to extend the life of the Jwaneng diamond mine.

The expansion, dubbed Cut-8, will be the largest ever single capital commitment in the private sector in Botswana, De Beers said in a statement on Tuesday.

The project will extend the life of the Jwaneng mine by seven years, to at least 2025.

Debswana will invest $500-million in capital expenditure, but, after taking into account all the project stages, including feasibility, design, implementation and mining operations, plus plans and equipment, the total project investment is likely to total $3-billion over the next 15 years.

Jwaneng is owned by Debswana, a joint venture between De Beers and the government of Botswana, and is the largest diamond mine in the world by production value.

Jwaneng contributes about 70% of Debswana's total revenue. In turn, diamonds from the Debswana partnership accounts for 50% of Botswana's public revenue, 33% of GDP and over 80% of foreign earnings.

The project is expected to create access to a further 95-million carats at Jwaneng, De Beers said.

“This project affirms Jwaneng’s unparalleled status as the richest diamond mine, by value, in the world,” De Beers MD Gareth Penny said in a statement.

The extension will require the removal of more than 700-million tons of waste between 2010 and 2024, exposing another 78-million tons of diamond-bearing ore and deepening the Jwaneng pit to a depth of 650 m.

At its peak, the project will create more than 1 000 jobs.

Penny said that diamond demand is expected to increase in the long term, especially as more high net-worth individuals emerge in the developing markets of China and India.

“At the same time, there have been no new major diamond discoveries in more than a decade, and the growing demand is likely to significantly outpace what is forecast to be lower levels of diamond supply for many years to come,” De Beers said.

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