De Beers starts marine diamond mining in SA

De Beers announced on June 8, 2006 that it had won a number of major contracts to establish a marine mine in the South African Sea Areas (SASA) off the west coast of South Africa. The South African company has committed to invest $115 million for the full implementation of the project, which has already completed a feasibility study.

�In establishing a sustainable marine mining operation, De Beers is committed to meeting the requirements of the Mining Charter and has established a Social and Labour Plan for the operation. This will help ensure that benefits are derived for the coastal communities in the Richtersveld,� De Beers said in a statement.

The project will be the first marine diamond mining operation in South Africa for De Beers, which already uses the same crawler technology off the Namibian coast. De Beers said that it expects to start offshore mining towards the second quarter of 2007.