For many decades, the gold mining industry of the Soviet Union remained one of the largest in the world holding the well-balanced second place after South Africa in terms of gold output. From 1991, the industry started to decay, when instead of ten large territorial enterprises of Russia there emerged over 600 subsoil using companies mining from their first tens of kilos to 1.5-2.0 tons of metal per year. Naturally, such businesses could neither maintain geological exploration nor gold mining in the country.
Strategically located to the western coast of Southern Africa, Angola is the third largest and one of the most mineral potentially endowed and blessed country in sub-Saharan Africa. Angola said 8.6 million carats were mined by the formal sector in 2007. Endiama (Empresa de Diamantes de Angola) is the national diamond company of Angola founded in 1981 and it is the exclusive concessionary of mining rights in the domain of diamonds. Our agency had a possibility to address a couple of questions to the Head of Department of Strategical Planning and Investments, Tiago Dias.
Avi Paz, President of the Israel Diamond Exchange, was born in 1946 into a family of Belgian diamantaires. In 1971, he started trading in diamonds and became a member of the Israel Diamond Exchange. He is also the owner and general manager of Paz Avi Fancy Ltd, a diamond processing enterprise established in 1977, which was the first company in Israel to produce fancy cut diamonds. Avi Paz turned to be President of the Exchange in 2005. Recently he was elected for the second term. During the recent World Diamond Congress in Shanghai, Avi Paz was elected new President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses.
The creation of the Namibian Diamond Trading Company (NDTC) is based on a 50x50 partnership between the Government of the Republic of Namibia and De Beers. The agreement, which resulted in the creation of the company, was signed in January 2007 and holds immense possibilities for the country in terms of the economic activity such a venture, is expected to generate. The purpose of the NDTC is to make diamonds available for sale in Namibia for local manufacturing. Shihaleni Ellis Ndjaba is the CEO of Namibian Diamond Trading Company (NDTC). Until January 2008 he was the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication.
Minerals Energy and Water Resources Minister, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, has lauded Debswana’s initiative in holding the international seminar on Paste and thickened tailings on behalf of the government of Botswana as a true reflection of the partnership between government and industry.
Debswana hosted the 11th International Paste 08 seminar in Kasane from the 5th to the 9th May after it was mandated by the Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG). Previous seminars on the topic of paste and thickened tailing were held in Canada, Australia, South Africa, Chile and Ireland. During these seminars aspects of water recovery and storage of mine residue were discussed.
Over 250 delegates, academics and mining experts from Australia, Canada, China, Chile, Europe, Iran, USA, UK and neighbouring countries, representing all major mining houses and regions, converged in Kasane last week to share ideas on reduction of water use in mining operations and seek new initiatives to reduce the negative impact of mining operations on the environment.
When officially opening the international seminar last week, Kedikilwe said that Botswana fully supports the seminar as it has noble initiatives that are on par with the country’s drive for sustainable growth and development.
He also said, adding that the seminar had come at an ideal time during which the country is faced with challenges generated by the growth of the mining industry. He explained that in 2007, Botswana issued a total of 740 prospecting licenses of which 358 were for diamonds while 382 were for various other minerals.
“As a semi arid country with an appetite for development, we need to partner with the best in order to maximise water recycling or find alternative technologies that will allow mining to take place without undue depletion of this precious and scarce resource,” said the minister.
Veronica Novoselova, Rough&Polished African bureau editor in Namibia
Register
Sign in