Firestone Diamonds plc is an AIM-listed United Kingdom-based company, operating in

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

and

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

. In May 2018, the firm announced the appointment of Paul Bosma as

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

slated to succeed Stuart Brown on 1 July 2018.Liedtke, Simon
"Liqhobong GM to succeed Brown as CEO of Firestone Diamonds", ''Mining Weekly'', 14 May 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2018.

Liqhobong Mine, Lesotho

The Lighobong diamond mine ('Liqhobong' or the 'Project') in Lesotho is Firestone's principal asset, and was acquired as a result of the acquisition of Kopane Diamond Developments plc in September 2010. Liqhobong is located at the head of the Liqhobong Valley in the

Maluti Mountains The Maloti Mountains are a mountain range of the highlands of the Kingdom of Lesotho. They extend for about 100 km into the South African Free State. The Maloti Range is part of the Drakensberg system that includes ranges across large area ...

of northern Lesotho and is operated by Liqhobong Mining Development Company (Proprietary) Limited ('LMDC'), which is 75% owned by Firestone Diamonds and 25% owned by the government of Lesotho.

BK11 Mine, Botswana

The BK11 kimberlite mine is located in the

Orapa Orapa is a town located in the Central District of Botswana. It is the site of the Orapa diamond mine, the largest diamond-producing mine in the world, and is considered to be the diamond capital of the country. Nearby is another kimberlite min ...

kimberlite field in northern Botswana. BK11 is located approximately 10 kilometres west and 20 kilometres southeast of De Beers' Letlhakane and Orapa mines, respectively, and is within 5 kilometres of the Karowe mine operated by Lucara Diamond Corp. Initial pit design work indicates that approximately 12 Mt of

kimberlite Kimberlite is an igneous rock and a rare variant of peridotite. It is most commonly known to be the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an diamond called the Star of ...

can be extracted at an average grade of 8 carats per hundred tonnes containing circa 0.9 million carats. Phase 1 of the BK11 production plant commenced in August 2010 but was placed on

care and maintenance Care and maintenance is a term used in the mining industry to describe processes and conditions on a closed minesite where there is potential to recommence operations at a later date. During a care and maintenance phase, production is stopped but t ...

in February 2012 as a result of the plant's inability to successfully liberate diamonds. Phase 2 which included secondary and tertiary crushing circuits and connection to the existing electrical power infrastructure remains to be implemented. The Board is considering various strategic alternatives for its Botswana operation, including disposal or potential joint venture options. BK11 has been acquired by Tango Mining, a TSX Venture listed junior mining company.

References

{{reflist Diamond mining companies Mining companies based in London