good potential

Please note the rate of recovery for bon is low as this is a sample program only. Mining volumes will be at least ten times the volume . One must not underestimate the potential here.



Off-shore

DeBeers Marine, Sakawe Mining Ltd (Samincor), and Diamond Fields Namibia carry out offshore diamond mining in Namibia. Several smaller Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) companies are also involved in small scale contract mining in the surf to shallow water.

Namibian marine diamond recovery has now surpassed traditional land-based diamond production. In 2001, over 60% of Namibia’s app. 1.6 million carats per year came from mining the seabed, with 95% being gem quality. Furthermore, the potential of the marine diamond industry has barely begun to exploit the vast resources of Namibian marine diamonds calculated by experts to contain some 2 billion carats.
Mining Techniques

Surf Zone Mining up to a water depth of 15m:

Divers operate suction hoses connected to pumps stationed on the beach.
The diamondiferous gravels are jigged and diamonds are hand-picked.

Shallow Water Mining at water depths from 15m to 20m:

Divers sweep the seafloor with suction hoses connected to pumps on small boats. Gravels are concentrated on the boat and taken ashore for sorting. Mid-water mining at water depths from 20m to 100m: Gravels are raised from the ocean floor by an airlift system within solid drill rods (5m-diameter drill bit) to a mining vessel, where they are sorted. The concentrate is taken by helicopter to the sorting house for diamond extraction.

Deep-water mining at water depths greater than 100m:

A remote-operated mobile seafloor crawler is used, which is connected to the mining vessel by a flexible hose, raising the gravels by airlift. Gravels are sorted on the ship, and the concentrate is taken to diamond hand picking on land.
Kimberlites

Active exploration for diamondiferous kimberlite pipes is ongoing in northeastern Namibia, where kimberlite indicator minerals (e.g. ilmenite, garnet, chrom-diopside) as well as micro-diamonds have been recovered.

Companies exploring for diamondiferous kimberlites include Motapa Diamonds Incorporation, Mount Burgess Mining N.L and DeBeers. Past exploration of kimberlite pipes within the Gibeon Kimberlite Province was unable to delineate diamondiferous kimberlites due to their off-craton setting. To date, no economic diamondiferous kimberlite pipes have been discovered, but great potential exists on both the Congo and Kalahari cratons.