The Venetia Diamond Mine is

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

's largest producer of

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

s, since 1995. It is situated close to the

n town of Alldays in the

Limpopo province Limpopo is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while th ...

and is located within the 360 km²

Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve {{Location map, South Africa Limpopo, float = right , width=250 , caption = Position of Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve, label = Venetia Limpopo NR, position=background=white, lat=-22.30251, long=29.20412 The Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve is ...

. The open cast mine is one of

De Beers De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...

’ six remaining diamond mines in South Africa and the only major diamond mine to be developed in the country during the past 25 years. As such, the mine represents one of De Beers’ single biggest investments in South Africa. The mine was opened in 1992 by Harry Oppenheimer, a former De Beers chairman. In 2004 the mine had 955 employees and recovered 7,187,300 carats (1437.5 kg) of diamonds from 5,871,000

metric ton The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States c ...

s of

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically containing metals, that can be mined, treated and sold at a profit.Encyclopædia Britannica. "Ore". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April 2 ...

.In 2021 the mine will cease its opencast operation and move towards underground mining extending the life of the mine by a further 21 years up to 2044. The Kolope River flows 8 km to the west of the mine. Surface water storage dams have been built on two of its tributaries.Hydrogeology of the Venetia Diamond Mine, South Africa
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References

External links

Sustaining Water Supplies While Responding to Operational Requirements at De Beers Venetia MineEffect of Small Catchment Dams on Downstream Vegetation of a Seasonal River in semi-arid African Savanna
{{coord, 22, 26, 02, S, 29, 18, 50, E, scale:100000, display=title Diamond mines in South Africa Surface mines in South Africa Geography of Limpopo Economy of Limpopo