Venetia Diamond Mine is located west of Musina in Limpopo Province, and is already transitioning from open pit mining to underground mining using the sub-level caving method. First production from the VUG – which extends Venetia’s life to at least 2046 – was achieved on Friday, 30 June 2023. In late January 2024, De Beers Group’s[…]
At the end of December 2023, De Beers’ Venetia Mine near Musina, in South Africa, celebrated reaching 10.2 million fatality-free shifts, a significant achievement as it transitions from open pit to underground operations, it said. The challenging journey to date has included reskilling the company’s open pit employees for underground operations, while coordinating the many[…]
The Board of Debswana, the 50:50 diamond mining joint venture between De Beers Group and the Government of the Republic of Botswana, has announced approval of the investment for a key development phase of the Jwaneng underground project, paving the way for one of the world’s most valuable diamond mine to transition from open pit[…]
Late last year, leading autonomous drilling technology provider FLANDERS embarked on a project to begin automation of the blasthole drilling fleet at Debswana’s Orapa diamond mining operation in Botswana, situated 240 km west of Francistown. The conversion of the first drill to autonomous operation, an Epiroc Pit Viper PV-271, has now been completed, which will[…]
Sandvik Mining and Rock Solutions is introducing AutoMine® Core, “a comprehensive automation platform for mass mining applications to support customers ramping up from manual operation to fully autonomous production.” Built on Sandvik’s proven AutoMine Fleet and Manual Production Monitoring (MPM) solutions, AutoMine Core also provides users with multiple levels of interoperability for Sandvik and third-party[…]
Established in 2016, Tage Idriver (踏歌智行) is without question one of the original pioneers in the development of autonomous haulage in open-pit mines in China. It modified the first domestic large mining truck for autonomous operation at the Bayan Obo iron ore and rare earths mine, plus it designed China’s first autonomous haulage solution for[…]
Making the transition from an open pit mine that has been operating successfully for 30 years to an underground operation that could become one of the most mechanised and automated in the world is not something that happens overnight. De Beers Group embarked on the $2.3 billion underground expansion of its Venetia asset in Limpopo[…]
Rio Tinto’s Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories of Canada will build the largest solar power plant across Canada’s territories, featuring over 6,600 solar panels that will generate approximately 4,200 MWh/y of carbon-free electricity for the mine. The solar power plant will provide up to 25% of Diavik’s electricity during closure work that will[…]
Gemfields’ 75%-owned Montepuez Ruby Mining Limitada (MRM) has entered into a legally binding contract with Consulmet Limited to construct an additional processing plant at MRM’s ruby mine in Mozambique. The addition of the second plant will triple MRM’s processing capacity from the existing 200 t/h to 600 t/h, allowing MRM to process its sizeable stockpile,[…]
De Beers Group has celebrated a key milestone with the delivery of first production from underground operations at its Venetia Mine in Limpopo, South Africa. The overall construction of the underground mine is now 70% complete, with construction and production ramp-up continuing over the next few years. Venetia Mine, South Africa’s leading diamond mine, ceased[…]