Historical Perspective

Ø      1900's ~ April 1908 that the first coastal diamond was found, approximately 7km inland, outside the coastal town of Luderitz, Namibia by Zacharias Lewala, a railway worker who was clearing wind blown sand from the local railway line. He showed his find to his supervisor who recognized what the shiny stone might be. By 1930 over 11 million carats of diamonds had been recovered in an area south of Luderitz.

 

Ø      1920's ~ First diamonds are discovered on the South African coast. Further discoveries were made along the southern coast onshore areas heading south towards Cape Town.

 

Ø      By the 1950's ~ extensive mining of exposed marine terraces along the South African and Namibian west coasts was well established, especially the major deposits at Alexander Bay and Oranjemund. These spectacular deposits on land lured people towards the adjacent sea areas, and the first diamond recoveries from the sea date as far back as 1957. 

Ø      1960's ~ Few people had ventured into the sea itself to continue the search for diamond deposits and it wasn’t until the arrival of Sam Collins in the early 1960’s that exploration of the seafloor revealed that diamond deposits did in fact extend into the sea along submerged ancient beach terraces. Some 1.5 million carats were extracted from the sea between 1961 and 1970. Collins alone recovered 380,000 carats in a 15 month period in 1969/70. The richness of these marine deposits is perhaps best illustrated by the recovery of 300 000 carats (worth some US$210 million at today's prices) between June 1969 and September 1970 from a small area in Hottentot Bay, north of Luderitz by Tidal Diamonds Company. 

Ø      1970's ~ International diamond market slumps resulting in a temporary cessation in offshore dredging operations, but onshore and small-scale diver assisted mining continues in the near shore zone Although some 1,5 million carats of diamonds were produced from the sea off the Namibian coast between 1961 and 1970, these early attempts to mine diamonds off the west coasts of South Africa and Namibia nevertheless failed for a variety of reasons. Some of these problems included the low diamond prices at the time, the lack of suitable technology and the lack of understanding of geological controls of diamond deposits on the sea floor.  

Ø      1990's ~ As richer onshore deposits become exhausted, offshore mining operations recommence, initiating an increasing shift in emphasis from onshore to offshore operations The De Beers Group, who later took over the operations of Sam Collins, curtailed mining operations in 1970 and commenced with an extensive 15 year exploration programme. When De Beers started their next phase - the commissioning of mining vessels for offshore diamond mining in the late 1980's - the interest of investors and other mining groups was stirred again. Today, with vastly improved and developing technology, marine diamond mining has become a highly sophisticated industry.

 

 

Major Players and Areas of Operation

 

 

Currently, marine diamond mining operations are conducted only in South Africa and Namibia, largely controlled by a few large companies

Ø      Major players in South Africa include De Beers, Alexkor and Trans Hex, with concession areas covering most of the west coast from Paternoster in the south to the Orange River in the north, extending from 100 km inland out to 500 m depth offshore

Ø      Major players in Namibia include Namdeb, Ocean Diamond Mining, Diamond Fields International and Arena Mining with concessions areas extending from 100 km inland to 3 km offshore, from the Orange River to 26°30'S

Ø      Some prospecting has been undertaken off the Angolan coastline and several companies are negotiating the lease of potential mining areas, but no concessions have yet been allocated.

Ø      PANDA MARINE Mining and Exploration is one of the new players in the field, supported by innovative technology and focused marine mining management.

 

 

Conclusion

It is generally acknowledged that the world's largest and most valuable resource of gem quality diamonds is contained in the exposed marine gravel beaches along the Namibian and South African west coasts as well as on the submerged beaches in the adjacent territorial waters.

Industry experts estimate that as many as 10 billion carats were originally liberated by erosion over a period of 100 million years from numerous diamondiferous kimberlites in the interior of Southern Africa, of which an estimated 3 billion carats survived the fluvial transportation process towards the coast. Since the beginning of the century, some 150 million carats have already been mined from this resource, but mainly from the exposed marine terraces along the coast.

Some commentators believe that other kimberlite sources exist in the territorial waters and that diamonds from these sources were carried by the Benguela current to be deposited along the submerged beaches off the South African West Coast.

Over 90% of the diamonds mined today from the sea and adjacent coastal areas are of gem quality, because only the best quality stones survived the transportation process to the coast. These marine diamonds are not only of exceptional colour, clarity and quality, but they are also in the popular size-range for the majority of consumers and are in constant demand in the jewellery market.