A diamond mine in a kimberlite pipe, owned by Debswana, a 50:50 joint venture of De Beers and the Botswanian government. The deposit was discovered in 1970 and production started in 1973. The mine works two pipes, of which the larger one was mined continuously since the mine was started. The smaller pipe was only worked for a short period of time, from June 1985 to May 1986. While the diamond grade of the pipe is considerably lower than that at Orapa, Letlhakane produces diamonds of higher quality. In 2004, it produced 1.03 million ct from 3.4 million tons of ore. About 40% of the stomes are of gem-quality.
The pipe hosts a varied suite of mantle xenoliths, including peridotites, pyroxenites, eclogites, megacrysts and glimmerites.
Located 40 km southeast of the Orapa mine and about 190 km west of Francistown.
References
- Mining Annual Review (1985): 147 & 415.
- Stiefenhofer, J., Viljoen, K.S., and Marsh, J.S. (1997): Petrology and geochemistry of peridotite xenoliths from the Letlhakane kimberlites, Botswana. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 127, 147-158.
- Field, M., Stiefenhofer, J., Robey, J., and Kurszlaukis, S. (2008): Kimberlite-hosted diamond deposits of southern Africa: A review. Ore Geology Reviews 34, 33-75.
Mineral List
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