Mine finds biggest diamond yet
THE KAREEVLEI Diamond Mine close to Kimberley has recovered a record 16.28 carat diamond – the mine’s biggest yet.
Bluerock Diamonds, which owns and operates the Kareevlei Diamond Mine in the Kimberley region of the Northern Cape, this weekend announced the recovery of the record 16.28 carat diamond of gem quality.
The diamond was recovered at the mine on Friday and is 4.58 carats larger than their previous largest diamond.
“The company is arranging to have this diamond valued and will provide further updates in due course,” Adam Waugh, Bluerock’s CEO, commented.
“This discovery follows hot on the heels of our recovery of an exceptional 8.97 carat diamond on February 1. The quality of these diamonds is a reminder of why we are so confident about the potential of the Kareevlei mine and the outlook for 2019.”
The 8.97 carat diamond marked the third stone independently valued in excess of $50 000 mined from Kareevlei. The two previous record value stones were a 7.76 carat stone recovered in 2017 and sold for $10 070 per carat and a 10.58 carat stone recovered in 2018 and sold for $7 047 per carat.
Bluerock Diamonds is an Aimlisted diamond producer which operates the Kareevlei Diamond Mine near Kimberley, which produces diamonds of exceptional quality and ranks in the top 10 in the world in terms of average value per carat. KLEINZEE artisanal miners will have to wait to hear their fate after judgment was reserved in the Northern Cape High Court yesterday following their eviction from the Kleinzee Bedrock earlier this month.
A large group of artisanal miners attended the hearing yesterday where the miners’ interim affidavits were submitted in the high court.
The miners were left stranded after De Beers enforced an eviction order obtained in January. At the time, the miners said that when they returned to the Kleinzee Bedrock Mine early in January to start work, they noticed that the site, which had previously been allocated for their accommodation, was being used by a driving school.
They were then told to move to another site, the miners said, where taps and ablution facilities had been erected for them.
The miners added that they had just set up their shanties and were ready to start work when De Beers enforced the eviction order.
Self-styled diamond magnate Louis Liebenberg, who is bankrolling the case for the miners, said: “I will continue to pay until we win this case.
“The miners have been taken advantage of. They do not understand the process of mining permits. They blindly trust the officials from the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) who tell them to come in and provide their names and identity numbers. The miners think by providing this information they have a permit to mine.”
Liebenberg further reiterated that the “nonsense” and the “lies” had to stop now. “The Oppenheimers and the Wiese’s have murdered the souls of the Africans.”
Chairperson of the Kimberley Artisanal Mineworkers (KAMW) Lucky Seekoei said that affected miners had abided by the court order. “We need to respect rule of law. We are all citizens of South Africa and policy and the Constitution is for all our benefit.”