Khama to open Ghaghoo Mine

Ghaghoo, which was built at a cost of $96 million, will become the second operating diamond mine in Botswana outside of the Debswana stable of mines. Promoters of the mine, Gem Diamonds, aims to ramp up to planned phase one production rate of 200,000 carat per year to 220,000 – extracted from 720,000 tonnes of ore by the end of the year. Studies estimate that the underground mine has a total carat resource of 20.5 million carats at an average of $162 per carat with a total in situ value of $3.3 billion.