The Letlhakane diamond mine, owned by Debswana – a joint diamond mining venture between De Beers and the Botswana government – is located 190 kilometers west of Francistown and 50 kilometers away from Debswana’s Orapa Mine.
Letlhakane (the name means “little reed”) was the second diamond mine opened by Debswana and is the deepest of the company’s working diamond mines. According to De Beers’ website, the mine’s depth presents a constant challenge, since the slopes must be kept stable.
In 2010, 35 years after operations commenced, 3.3 million tons of ore were extracted at Letlhakane, yielding 1.2 million carats of rough diamonds. The mine’s ore is processed at the Orapa plant, and Orapa also serves as the base of operations for the Letlhakane mine.
As of the end of 2011, an initial closure plan for the mine was already drawn up, although operations continued.
Regardless of the future of the Letlhakane diamond mine itself, the region is still proving fruitful for other diamond projects. Firestone’s BK11 kimberlite pipe is located in the vicinity of Letlhakane, as is Lucara Diamond’s AK6 diamond project, which is scheduled to begin production in 2012.
