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. 2 / www.enterprise-africa.net
www.enterprise-africa.net / 3
INDUSTRY FOCUS: MINING
//
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 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
4 / www.enterprise-africa.net
// THE 910 HAS REALLY BEEN A SOURCE OF EXCITEMENT FOR LETŠENG. WE SOLD THE DIAMOND IN BELGIUM AND ACHIEVED US $40 MILLION // 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 Belgium and achieved US $40 million. We are starting a project, named the 910, as
LETŠENG DIAMONDS
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 to the CEO) about earlier fantastic large discoveries. “Every large stone is significant,” he reminded. In 2017,
25yrs_AD_Print_Letseng2.indd 1
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 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
27/02/2018 16:29
www.enterprise-africa.net / 5
INDUSTRY FOCUS: MINING
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 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
6 / www.enterprise-africa.net
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
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,
LETŠENG DIAMONDS
// IT IS THE TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE OF OUR FACILITY AND THE HARD WORK OF OUR PEOPLE THAT BRINGS US LUCK // 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. WWW.LETSENGDIAMONDS.CO.LS
www.enterprise-africa.net / 7
CMB Media Group does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by attributing writers and/ or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher. © CMB Media Group Ltd 2018
AFRICA
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR AFRICA’S INDUSTRY LEADERS
Published by CMB Media Group Chris Bolderstone – General Manager E. chris@cmb-media.co.uk Sackville Place, 44-48 Magdalen Street, Norwich, NR3 1JU T. +44 (0) 20 8123 7859 E. info@cmb-media.co.uk www.cmb-media.co.uk
May 2018
www.enterprise-africa.net
Tour de Force
Exclusive Interview with Dimension Data MEA CEO Grant Bodley ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
Sorbet / Stangen / Letšeng Diamonds / Tiber Construction
AS FEAT UR ED IN
ENTERPRISE AFRICA
MAY 2018