Name of the Project
Venetia underground project (VUP).

Location
Venetia mine in Limpopo, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
De Beers Group Managed Operations, a subsidiary of Anglo American.

Project Description
The Venetia mine, which officially opened on August 14, 1992, is currently the biggest producer of diamonds in South Africa.

The mine is currently an openpit operation; however, following shareholder approval, development work began in late 2013 to build the new underground mining operation beneath the current operating openpit. It is currently the biggest diamond mine development under way anywhere in the world.

The new underground mine will extend the life of Venetia mine to beyond 2040 and replace the openpit production from 2023, Venetia will, therefore, remain South Africa’s biggest diamond mine.

The Venetia project comprises the K1 and K2 orebodies. Both kimberlites extend below surface, enabling De Beers to mine to depths of up to 1 000 m. There are indications that K2, in particular, extends well below 1 000 m, and De Beers may explore options that extend the underground operation’s life beyond 2046.

The underground project will use sublevel caving to extract material, primarily from K2. However, De Beers has incorporated new design options to extract ore from the K1 underground orebody, necessitating the completion of a raisebore shaft and underground in-pit decline to better access both orebodies.

Potential Job Creation
During construction, employment will peak at about 2 000 personnel. The workforce currently comprises a total of 1 800 people.\

All-in Sustaining Costs/All-in Costs
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
De Beers plans to invest about $2-billion in the VUP until 2025, although first ore is expected from the underground operation in 2022.

Planned Start /End Date
The openpit is expected to cease production in the first half of 2022 owing to additional optimisation work in the openpit to ensure an effective transition between the openpit and the underground operation.

The underground operation is expected to deliver first production at Venetia during 2022.

Latest Developments
The K01 prioritisation plan, which is to be finalised later this year for the five-year business planning cycle, aims to accelerate first production of the K01 kimberlite to achieve a faster production ramp-up aligned with the openpit exit and improve the project financials.

Top-of-mine development has achieved more than 10 000 m to date. The production shaft has completed sinking and is in the equipping phase. The service shaft has 6 m of sinking remaining, which will be completed once the production shaft is equipped in the second half of 2022. In the current configuration of the service shaft, bottom-of-mine development has started to allow for underground infrastructure establishment.

The surface infrastructure, inclusive of the winder buildings, training centre, control room, change houses, surface fans, surface workshop and various substations, is progressing well and nearing completion.

Stay in business capital is planned to start with waste development in the second half of 2020. This will be implemented through an integrated owners team model, which will be a combination of external skills integrated into a De Beers-led owners’ team.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Murray & Roberts Cementation (development of underground mine). Worley, Stefanutti Stocks, BMH, BBE and ABB are among some of the contractors involved in the project.

Contact Details for Project Information
De Beers Group Managed Operations senior communications manager Jackie Mapiloko, tel +27 11 374 7173 or email jackie.mapiloko@debeersgroup.com.