AFP, Venetia Mine :
Proof that diamonds are getting harder to find can be seen in the South African bush, where one of the world’s largest mining companies is spending $2 billion tunnelling beneath a vast open-pit mine.
De Beers spent 25 years digging a 450-metre (1,500-foot) deep by one-kilometre wide hole to access diamond-rich rock from the surface at the Venetia mine, close to the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Now a whole new underground mine is being constructed underneath the hole to reach diamonds more than 1,000 metres below ground-a big bet by De Beers that their investment will reap decades of profit.
Proof that diamonds are getting harder to find can be seen in the South African bush, where one of the world’s largest mining companies is spending $2 billion tunnelling beneath a vast open-pit mine.
De Beers spent 25 years digging a 450-metre (1,500-foot) deep by one-kilometre wide hole to access diamond-rich rock from the surface at the Venetia mine, close to the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Now a whole new underground mine is being constructed underneath the hole to reach diamonds more than 1,000 metres below ground-a big bet by De Beers that their investment will reap decades of profit.
