De Beers eyes Zimbabwe, Congo after gaining South African permits
NAIROBI – De Beers may follow its resumption of exploration for diamonds in South Africa’s Northern Cape by looking in the longer term at opportunities in countries like Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"I’m excited about what I’m seeing in Zimbabwe," said Phillip Barton, chief executive officer of De Beers’ South African unit. "If we get licenses, we would have a further look."
For now, the company is keeping its focus on seeking deposits in South Africa after gaining 16 exploration licenses in Northern Cape province. Barton said it wants to extend searches to Free State, North West and Limpopo, where De Beers is working on the $2 -illion Venetia project. The company will take a “long-term view” on countries such as Zimbabwe and Congo when the time is right, he said.
“We have Venetia mine that’s literally 20 kilometers from the Zimbabwe border,” Barton said on the sidelines of South Africa’s annual Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town. "Why would it be just on the one side?”
In addition, De Beers would consider seeking exploration licenses in Congo if the legal situation improves, as well as adding another ship to its fleet of five looking for marine deposits off Namibia.
“The progress made in prospective countries like Zimbabwe and the DRC is encouraging,” Barton said in a separate statement. “Our focus in De Beers remains on those countries where we have well established operations – South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.”
Comments
The
functionality
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation