THE DIAMOND STORY
he discovered 50 stones in the river gravels on a farm near Lichtenburg. This led to the famous Lichtenburg diamond rushes of 1926/27. In order to be fair to the thousands of diggers who wanted to peg claims on the newly discovered deposits, government officials organised races where diggers could - at the firing of a gun - start to run towards the area where they believed their fortune lay. Tens of thousands of pegs were planted by youngsters and the elderly (some on crutches) and middledistance runners who were employed by diggers. In a few years, Lichtenburg produced more than £10 million worth of diamonds that were dumped on the already weak diamond market, causing its near-collapse in the late 1920s. A number of diggers are still active today, but their production is only a fraction of the erstwhile fortunes which these river gravels produced.
their mounds. When rains washed these mounds away, grains of indicator minerals associated with diamonds such as garnets and ilmenites - were left behind. Geologists picked up these vital clues which led to the discovery of the buried pipes. The cost of exploration and finding a viable kimberlite pipe is enormous. At Jwaneng, 249 large boreholes were dug to a depth of 200 m, as well as six shafts to a depth of 158 m. Geologists flew low over the desert in small aircraft, trailing sensitive instruments that could pick up magnetic anomalies over the hidden kimberlite pipes. The Botswana mines are all 24-hours-a-day/six-days-a-week, open-pit operations. It is fascinating to see how the largest computerised hydraulic shovels in the world - the Demag 4855 - load 55 tons with every scoop and feed a fleet of 117-ton trucks, which haul the ore to the primary crusher and waste dumps.
Ants carrying rough diamond crystals. As many as 25 000 people took par t in a single rush in 1926 in the Lichtenburg district.
BOTSWANA – A COUNTRY BUILT ON SMALL STONES
In 1966, Botswana was one of the 25 poorest nations in the world. Then its destiny changed. Diamonds were discovered at Orapa, derived from "bovapa", meaning “resting place of lions”, and the country never looked back. Subsequent discoveries were made at Jwaneng (aptly named “place of small stones”) and at Letlhakane.
Today, Botswana is the world’s largest producer of gemquality diamonds (approximately 16 million carats annually). Diamond exports account for more than 60% of government revenues, over 70% of its foreign exchange and 40% of its GDP. Its bonanza has not been squandered, but has been used prudently to benefit every citizen in the land. The Botswana government and its par tner, De Beers, have been a shining example to the rest of Africa of how to exploit and benefit from the riches of which their continent has plenty.
De Beers started to look for diamonds in Botswana in 1955 but only discovered the pipe at Orapa in 1967. The Orapa pipe is the second-largest kimberlite pipe in the world – with a surface area of 113 ha, the size of 152 soccer fields. The Big Hole at Kimberley only covers 4,8 ha. At Jwaneng, the diamonds were hidden under 35-50 m of Kalahari sand. They might never have been revealed but for the termites that lived in the desert aeons ago when there was sufficient rainfall to sustain them. They burrowed deep into the earth in search of moist clay with which to build
Sor ting rough production into categories.
