Nooitgedacht Plant

The Nooitgedacht alluvial diamond mine is located on the farm Nooitgedacht, some 15 kilometres northwest of Kimberley. The project area extends for 6 kilometres along the eastern bank of the Vaal River and covers an area of 4,671 hectares.

From the late 1940s to the 1970s, diggers mined a modest portion of the Nooitgedacht property under a licence arrangement with De Beers. During this period, historical records note that some 76,000 carats in diamonds were recovered, the largest stone being the Venter diamond. At a weight of 511 carats, it remains the largest alluvial diamond ever recovered in South Africa. The subsequent mining rush resulted in the recovery of another two >300 carat diamonds. To date, 14 diamonds weighing more than 100 carats each have been recovered from the Nooitgedacht property. More recently, mining has recovered stones of 57 and 54 carats, which sold for US$483,000 and $360,000 respectively.

The recoverable grade is between 0.6 and 1.0cpht and the diamond quality is exceptional with an average minimum value of US$500 per carat.

Diamond mining at Nooitgedacht was until recently on care and maintenance whilst a new crushing facility was commissioned to supply coarse aggregate to Supermix (derived from the waste by-product from diamond mining), KimCor's industrial products division, which produces up to 2.0 million bricks and 3,000m3 of concrete each month.

Nooitgedacht Plant Close-up

The production of aggregate is part of the Group's sustainable business initiative that in the case of Nooitgedacht utilises the oversize waste by-product (>100 millimetres) screened from the process feed during the extraction of diamonds. Production of aggregate from the site which is sold to the industrial products division and has the scope to cover approximately 60 per cent of the diamond mining operating costs.

Mining rates at Nooitgedacht have been increased to approximately 14,000tpm, with further expansions under consideration.

KimCor has implemented a capital programme that will achieve the following:

• Refurbishment of the existing diamond processing plant to increase feed rates;
• Provision of new mining equipment and haul trucks to ensure better availability and therefore consistency of delivery of feed to the plant;
• Provision of new mining equipment that will allow for the efficient processing and loading of sands and aggregates required by the brick making division.

Project Image Gallery

Aerial of Nooitgedacht

Aerial of Nooitgedacht