De Beers to invest $150m in new plantDe Beers to invest $150m in new plant
By MIKE MANDE
The EastAfrican
De Beers Group, the world’s leading diamond mining company is to invest $150 million in a new processing plant at Mwadui Williamson Diamond Ltd in Tanzania.
Nerys John, the company's external affairs analyst, told The EastAfrican that the new processing plant will enable the firm to process 16 million tonnes of material annually and increase diamond production to a million carats.
Mr John said that the expansion and construction of the processing plant would enable WDL to extend the life of the mine by a further twenty-five years.
"De Beers has also approved a pre-feasibility study at a cost of $1.7 million for the new processing plant in addition to $150 million to be invested in the construction of the plant," he said, adding that the full feasibility study will be completed by September 30 with production expected to start on by July 1, 2008.
De Beers, which is 45 per cent owned by Anglo American, took over the ailing Mwadui Williamson Diamond Ltd in 1994 as part of the Tanzania government's privatisation process.
Tony Devlin, the managing director, told The EastAfrican last week that although Mwadui is the largest mined diamond bearing kimberlite pipe in the world, it is one of the lowest grade resources currently being exploited.
He said that WDL wants to increase its production capacity from 3.5 million ore tonne to 16 million tonne of material annually and increase diamond production to 1 million carats from 190,384 carats.
WDL is owned 75 per cent by De Beers and 25 per cent by the government of Tanzania and is one of the longest-standing government -private sector mining partnerships in the world.
The world’s leading diamond magnate, Jonathan Oppenheimer is chairman of WDL, which has been in existence for 65 years and is the first major diamond mine in Africa outside South Africa.
According to Mr Devlin, WDL has in the 65 years of its existence processed more than 131 million tonnes of diamond bearing material and has recovered 19.8 million carats, which has contributed $3 billion to the Tanzania economy.