LETÅ ENG DIAMONDS
LETŠENG DIAMONDS
New Letšeng CEO Celebrates
910 Find PRODUCTION: Karl Pietersen
In February, Letšeng Diamonds welcomed its new CEO, Mr Kelebone Leisanyane. This experienced leader is excited about the future at the world’s highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine. He talks to Enterprise Africa about large stones and new technology.
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When Letšeng Diamonds new CEO, Kelebone Leisanyane started in his new role, he could not have dreamt of a more positive beginning to his new career. Letšeng’s part-owner, Gem Diamonds, released a strong set of annual results for 2017, detailing a 12.9% increase in revenue. Letšeng had just discovered one of the largest stones in its history. It’s mining complex relocation was nearing completion, and the mine was starting 2018 off the back of a strong 2017 with several large stone recoveries. “I joined the organisation on Feb 12th and it has been very hectic,” he
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tells Enterprise Africa. “It has been very exciting because its new – it’s like a breath of fresh air.” Leisanyane was previously in charge at Lesotho’s National Development Corporation and is well-experienced in the investment promotion environment. He is an industrial engineer by training, having graduated from University College in Galway, Ireland. After returning to Lesotho, he worked in the flour milling and brick manufacturing industries before joining the investment promotion environment. He has also held directorship positions at large organisations including Standard
Lesotho Bank, Lesotho Revenue Authority, Econet, and the Centre for Accounting Studies. CELEBRATING 910 In January, the Lesotho Legend was discovered at Letšeng – the latest in a string of major discoveries, reinstating the reputation of Letšeng diamond mine as one of the world’s most significant mining operations. The 910 carat Lesotho Legend is a high-quality 910 carat, D colour Type IIa diamond, believed to be one of the largest found in history. “The 910 has really been a source of excitement for Letšeng,” explains Leisanyane. “We sold the diamond in
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INDUSTRY FOCUS: MINING
Belgium and achieved US $40 million. We are starting a project, named the 910, as a social responsibility initiative and we are very excited – it was a really great find for Letšeng as the fifth largest diamond in the world. “This has been an incredible year for Letšeng because, following the 910, there was a 69 and a 51, and we have also seen a number of other large finds. This could be the best year of the company yet.” Gem Diamonds CEO, Clifford Elphick said: “This is a landmark recovery for all of Gem Diamonds’ stakeholders, including our employees, shareholders and the Government of Lesotho, our partner in the Letšeng mine.” Back in June 2017, Enterprise Africa spoke to Leisanyane’s predecessor, Jeff Leaver (who remains an advisor
// THE 910 HAS REALLY BEEN A SOURCE OF EXCITEMENT FOR LETŠENG. WE SOLD THE DIAMOND IN BELGIUM AND ACHIEVED US $40 MILLION // to the CEO) about earlier fantastic large discoveries. “Every large stone is significant,” he reminded. In 2017, Letšeng unearthed a 104.73 carat diamond, a 151.52 carat Type I yellow diamond, a 80.58 carat stone, a 98.42 carat diamond, and a 114 carat gem. “With the major discoveries of the past year, the expectation is that more big stones might come up before financial year-end, but the nature of the industry shows that you cannot just extrapolate so I cannot suggest that we expect more big finds. But we do have high hopes,” admits
Leisanyane. The result of big stone discoveries is major for Lesotho. Diamond mining is one of the largest contributors to government tax revenue, and the industry is a major employer. But it is success in the CSR space that really highlights the value of stones like the Legend. “We contribute regularly to CSR projects and we regularly carry different focus areas, but following that exceptional find, we felt we must dedicate some of the proceeds to the development of projects that will assist our communities. The 910
// ECONET Telecom Lesotho (ETL) Econet Telecom Lesotho (ETL)’s position as the partner of choice in the Mountain Kingdom is affirmed by its ability to respond to every call for broadband services from government and businesses regardless of their geographical location. “We understand that communication services have become pivotal tools for businesses operations and lifeblood of their growth”. Lebohang Ramaisa, General Manager Enterprise Business says. “Econet is committed to investing in infrastructure that contributes positively in building sustainable enteprises, improving government services as well as the lives of ordinary Basotho regardless of where they reside.” This strategy is apparent in the way Econet enables the Lesotho’s mining companies to have modern high speed broadband services in the very high mountains and deep valleys of this beautiful kingdom. These companies enjoy high speed connectivity with their head offices and other partners across the globe at all times. GEM Diamonds’ Letseng Mine, despite being located deep in the mountains of Lesotho, has extreme demands for both speed and availability of their broadband services . Econet has been the partner of choice for Letseng and has managed to deliver a bouquet of services that allows Letseng to concentrate on its core business. Econet has worked with Letseng to improve their efficient use of the existing investment on broadband services by deploying the advanced VoIP and Telephone Management System taking advantage of the twentieth century benefits brought by cloud based solutions. This solution enables the mine to modernize their communications services as well as their budgeting and reporting. Ramaisa notes that recent trends and multiple studies have shown that the availability of reliable broadband services is one of the critical factors that investors and organizations consider before moving and setting up in an area. “That simply means areas that do not have broadband services are normally left behind in terms of development and businesses in those areas are not able to perform to their full potential” Ramaisa explains. Econet is fully committed to assisting Lesotho businesses reach their potential despite challenges that the terrain and Lesotho’s extreme weather may pose. We invite all enterprises and businesses to talk to us about their communication challenges and we are confident that we have the right solutions to enable their enterprise.
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T’s & C’s apply
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INDUSTRY FOCUS: MINING
project will receive approximately LSL 5 million,” says Leisanyane. The Letšeng mine is famous for the production of large, top colour, exceptional white diamonds, making it the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world. Since Gem Diamonds’ acquisition of Letšeng in 2006, the mine has produced four of the 20 largest white gem quality diamonds ever recorded. Its CSR spend is focussed around five key areas – education, health, infrastructure, development of sustainable SMMEs, and regional and environmental initiatives. Letšeng is one of the highest diamond mines in the world, at an altitude of over 3100 metres high in Lesotho’s Maluti Mountains. Often, expert climbers start to feel the effects of altitude sickness at 1500 to 3500 metres, and when the eye-watering price of the 910 Legend was announced at US 40 million, no doubt some of the auctioneers felt queasy with happiness. “We use Antwerp as our selling office and certain clients are invited to bid. You can view the diamond prior to bidding but only a selected, verified, reputable
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group would be invited to view. Then, obviously, the highest bid takes the stone home and that is exactly what happened with the 910. We are delighted with the entire process,” says Leisanyane. SPARKLING FUTURE At the start of 2017, Letšeng began the process of relocating its mining complex so that pit mining space could
be maximised. Mining workshops, offices and related service buildings were all moved so that larger mining equipment could access the pit to carry out a revised mining plan, which started in February 2017. This expensive but necessary programme is now all but complete and Leisanyane is satisfied with this futureproofing strategy. “It’s practically complete - more than
LETŠENG DIAMONDS
// IT IS THE TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE OF OUR FACILITY AND THE HARD WORK OF OUR PEOPLE THAT BRINGS US LUCK // 200 million has been spent. I was recently at the mine and toured the complex. Everything is almost complete and our people will soon begin taking occupancy.” He is keen to point out that his staff are the reason for the recent upturn in fortunes and discovery of large, significant diamonds. “Luck does not come into play,” he laughs. “We have a kimberlite deposit which is expected to have diamonds in it. We are looking in an area that is designated as a diamond area; it is the technical excellence of our facility and the hard work of our people that brings us luck.” In the future, Letšeng has a plan to further improve the technology it uses during processing so that value from diamonds is maximised. Currently, the value of some diamonds can be reduced when they are broken during sorting as Leisanyane explains. “The biggest success for a mine like ours is not to break diamonds,” he says
“Breaking diamonds destroys quality so looking forwards, we are exploring a technology through which we should be able to see if a rock contains diamonds before we crush the rock. If we can see a diamond, we can isolate the rock and use a different technology to dislodge the diamond. I think this is the future for Letšeng as right now we reduce the rock by breaking it and that can result in broken diamonds which destroys a lot of value. We have the process where we can feed mined ore through x-ray technology to see which rocks have diamonds and I think this will be helpful for our future.” Last month, the government of Lesotho announced plans to renew the mining license currently held by Gem Diamonds at Letšeng. The new license would take the miners agreement to 2034 and could potentially go even further if additional underground resources are deemed economically viable. “The Lesotho government’s announcement that they intend to
renew the Letšeng mining lease until 2034 is welcomed as a demonstration of the positive partnership which exists between Gem Diamonds and the government,” said Elphick. “I would like to thank the government of Lesotho for their ongoing support which will allow Gem Diamonds to continue to extract some of the world’s largest and most valuable diamonds from this remarkable resource.” Inextricably linked to the future of the industry in Lesotho and the future of the nation, the Letšeng diamond mine is truly an example to follow for others around the world. And if the new CEO has anything to do with it, Letšeng’s success will continue and grow, helping the mine to achieve its goal of pioneering mining in the Kingdom.
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July 2018
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