Grinding To A Halt

De Beers’ diamond exploration may soon come to an end, owing to government issues

- Martin Creamer

The exploration programme of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) is grinding to a halt, owing to the ongoing issues the iconic diamond mining company is experiencing with South Africa’s Department of Minerals Resources.

With the hold-up of as many as 54 prospecting licence applications for as long as two years, as well as Mining Charter III deal breakers, DBCM is unlikely to continue budgeting R30-million to R40-million a year for greenfield diamond exploration in South Africa.

When its Voorspoed diamond mine, in the Free State, reaches the end of its life in 2020, a lack of augmentation will mean that the company, which has been synonymous with diamonds since 1888 and which is eager to continue its exploration programme, will be down to one South African mine.

“We, as De Beers, believe that South Africa is highly prospective for diamonds, probably one of the [top] destinations in the world for diamonds. We have in the past had R30million to R40-milion a year in our budget just for greenfield exploration.

“Sadly, over the last few years, although we’ve put that into our budgets, we’ve spent less money, to the extent where we’ll probably next year spend no money on exploration in South Africa.

“The reason for that is that as much as we want to explore in South Africa, we don’t have any prospecting licences granted to us at the moment,” DBCM CEO Phillip Barton told Mining Weekly, following his participation in a panel discussion at last week’s Joburg Indaba.