Damtshaa targets 300,000 carats

Staff Writer | Thursday February 2, 2012 00:00

Production at the mine kicked off on December 15 last year after the first concentrate was produced in November.

Debswana's new in-house publication, Teemane News, quoted mine officials saying six months of intensive work to dust the cobwebs off Damtshaa had been successful, allowing production to begin in mid-December.

A key component used to filter diamonds from their ores (kimberlites), the Dense Media Separator (DMS), posed the biggest challenge for the teams of private contractors and Debswana employees working to resurrect Damtshaa.

'The fact that the DMS plant had stood idle for a long time meant that most of the equipment had deteriorated beyond usable condition,' Teemane News quoted Damtshaa process engineer, George Togara.

'This section had borne the brunt of years of corrosive environment and posed the biggest challenge to bring it back to life. New equipment had to be manufactured and installed, and that which could be salvaged was repaired to immaculate condition,' Togara is quoted.

The process engineer added that the new equipment would enable Damtshaa to respond promptly to improvements in the market's demand for diamonds in 2012.

Togara, who led the restoration project, revealed that the period after the resumption of activities had experienced some challenges as personnel and machinery geared their focus on carat production.

'Despite the setback, the employees at Damtshaa are confident that production challenges will be overcome just as quickly as the plant was rejuvenated,' he said. The dedication and commitment shown by the Damtshaa team ensured that the project to re-open the mine was completed on time.'

Damtshaa was last fully active in 2008 when it produced 500,000 carats out of Debswana's total output that year of 32.5 million carats. 

The smaller mine was mothballed in early 2009 along with other Debswana mines at the peak of the global economic recession that knocked down demand and prices for diamonds.

However, the other mines - Jwaneng, Orapa and Letlhakane - were reopened after three months while Orapa No. 2 Plant was reopened later in 2009.