Mining is a historic exercise carried out by civilizations thousands of years apart. The earliest recorded mining of specific items occurred about 40,000 years ago. Historians believe mining techniques have evolved over the years. It has only become a significant economic exercise during later civilizations.
Diamond mining has been an excessive activity for the last few centuries. And it looks like mining companies are running out of viable land options. This means companies have exhausted the majority of commercially viable diamond mines worldwide.
Due to these uncertainties, Gemstone mining companies have shifted focus from land. They are very keen to explore and study and figure out the potential of marine diamond extraction that could produce a commercially viable amount of rough diamonds.
Namibia: Marine Diamond Mining
Scientists believe that millions of years ago, precious stones, including diamonds, were washed away from Southern Africa to the west side of the continent along the Orange River. The River has carried these stones and emptied them to the Atlantic Ocean on Namibia’s coast, leaving some behind.
In the early 1900s, people discovered the diamonds in the Orange River and effectively initiated Diamond Rush in the region. This diamond rush remained mainly small activity in shallow waters of the River. Exploring deep-sea would follow in a couple of decades, And around the 1960s, Offshore diamonds were discovered in Namibia.
Namibia – De Beers Venture
About 20 years ago, in 2002, De Beers started its first deep-sea mining venture in partnership with the Government of Namibia. Debmarine Namibia is the leading marine diamond recovery company by the Namibian Government and De Beers.
The company has invested in advanced dredging equipment equipped with ships capable of producing thousands of carats of diamonds each day. De Beers has maintained this operation and gained extensive experience that they are about to benefit from in a long time.
This year, They’ve unveiled the world’s most advanced marine diamond recovery vessel to be part of the fleet of Debmarine ships on Namibia’s coastline.
The custom-build Vessel, The Benguela Gem, has commenced operation and is expected to add at least half a million carats per annum to the Debmarine operations. The cost of this ship is over 400 million US Dollars, an incredible amount for mining equipment.
The early months of 2022 have seen the effect of the United State’s sanctions against one of the world’s largest diamond producers, the Russian Giant, Alrosa. The Russian company typically fills a third of the market’s rough diamonds and has ceased its supplies to the market due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Therefore, a continued and strengthened Nambia – De Beers partnership could be a savior for the Industry now and in the near future. However, International Seabed Authority will have difficult decisions on whether companies can carry out hard-to-find diamond extractions in the deep seas.
How do they extract diamonds from the Ocean floor?
The first stage of the recovery is research by scanning the seabed using a remotely operated vehicle. This vehicle has equipment of geophysical mapping technologies to identify the most lucrative spots through a dirt sampling. Soil evaluations determine the quality of the gemstones (diamonds) and their abundance to be profitable.
After the findings are meticulously examined, then decisions are made on whether to mine the area or not.
Once a favorable decision comes out, mining teams go ahead using two methods to extract the gemstones from the seabed.
Methods to Recover Diamonds
There are two methods to get diamonds from the seabed. An air-lift drill technology is one of the two methods used by Debmarine fleets. It uses a 6.8 diameter drill bit that works in overlapping circles on the seafloor. The other method is horizontal crawler technology which uses 280-tonne track-mounted crawler dredging on the seafloor.
Both methods operate about 140 meters inside the ocean floor and lift tonnes of sediment to the ships using pipes. Automated processing systems are in place in the vessels. And a series of washing follows using different vibrating rigs and sifting equipment that separate rocks from the most petite diamonds.
Mining diamonds in the seabed is tougher but better than mining on land. And the reason is that mining from the ocean has higher gem quality percentage than land mining. Experts claim that only the most intricate diamonds end-up on the ocean floor. Because they follow a rough path to the seabed, and only the best will survive from destruction.
Environmental Impact
Debmarine argues that environments recover naturally after the operations cease. Eventually, this will need a long-term independent examination to understand if habitats recover without aid truly.
Debmarine claims that 2 percent of their licensed area is exhausted. A vast area remains to explore, extract and possibly disturb marine life for years to come. It will be up to the Namibian Government to assess risks against benefits for the future of the marine life in their waters.
Developing countries pose the highest risk to marine life in their waters due to a lack of expertise. So, once the seabed diamond rush begins, they may license rogue companies to mine their seabed. In return for a portion of the profit without regard to the environment.
It will come down to International Seabed Authority to help countries map and study marine life in seabed mining fields. ISA can help them gain knowledge of their environment and enable them to monitor and follow the conduct of mining companies.
And it is a wrap for our coverage of the exciting diamond explorations on the coast of Namibia in Africa. We’ll be on the look for the next major seabed mining activities in Africa.
Stay tuned to Jewel Paper.