VENETIA (miningweekly.com) – President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday turned the first sod at the launch of the construction phase of the R20-billion Venetia underground project in Limpopo province.

He did so together with Anglo American plc chairperson Sir John Parker and Anglo American CEO Mark Cutifani.

Also officiating at the launch was Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu.

Zuma told the large launch gathering and international media contingent that the project was significant because it demonstrated confidence in South Africa as an investment destination of choice by both foreign and South African companies.

On the eve of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s crucial mid-term Budget statement, Cutifani urged South Africans to work together in partnership to boost the economy collectively.

“Let the world see the real South Africa and let us focus on the great future we are building together,” Cutifani added.

The first sod was turned on the terrace where two vertical shafts and a decline shaft will be sunk to a depth of a kilometre to extend the life of South Africa’s biggest and most lucrative diamond mine to the year 2042.

The proposed new underground operations will replace the current opencast mine in 2021 and yield 96-million carats during the life-of-mine.

“We’ll deliver this project within eight years,” Venetia’s project director Kevin Botha told the large group of mineworkers and VIPs who attended the launch.

Sixty kilometres of tunnelling will have to be constructed before the underground operation will be ready to produce, using massive mining techniques to produce 5.9-million tons of ore a year and giving employment to 1 800 people for the next 22 years.

“It’s a massive engineering exercise that is not fully appreciated,” Cutifani said.

With underground production expected to commence in 2021, over its life, the Venetia underground operation will treat 130-million tons of ore.

The project will also support some 8 000 jobs directly, and a further 5 000 through the supply chain, benefiting the South African economy.
 
Through its mining laws, South Africa would continue to ensure that the investment sustainably benefited mining communities and labour-sending areas, Shabangu told the function, which was also attended by De Beers Group CEO Philippe Mellier, De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) chairperson Barend Petersen, DBCM empowerment shareholder Ponahalo Holdings chairperson Manne Dipico and DBCM CEO Phillip Barton, who announced the launch of the Jacob Zuma bursary scheme to mark the occasion, at which  former De Beers head and member of the founding family, Nicky Oppenheimer, was also prominent.

“Anglo American’s roots remain firmly in South Africa and we have been a proud investor here for almost 100 years,” Cutifani said.

Over the last 14 years alone, Anglo American had invested some R200-billion in South Africa, and was currently considering building another coal mine to serve State energy utility Eskom, Cutifani revealed.

“The positive social impact of skills development, the acquisition of economically valuable experience and the potential to uplift rural and sometimes poorer communities, is what exists here at the heart of Venetia,” he added.

“There can be no greater vote of confidence by our shareholders in South Africa and De Beers than the decision to build an underground mine of the future here at Venetia, one of a handful of world-class diamond mines around the world,” Mellier commented.

Petersen emphasised the need for safety and environmental protection at the mine, which is in the vicinity of the Mapungubwe World Heritage Site.

Both the Mapungubwe site and the buffer zone shielding it are legally protected through the National Heritage Resources Act, the National Environmental Management Act and the World Heritage Convention Act, President Zuma reminded.