Image credit: Lucara Diamond
The underground expansion programme has an estimated capital cost of $514 million and five years of development.
Lucara spent $18.7 million on project execution activities during the year ended December 31, 2020.
The funds were spent on-site earthworks (consisting of laydown preparation and clearing of shaft and surface infrastructure locations), geotechnical test pitting and drilling, and completion of two pilot holes at the shaft locations, a 746-metre hole for the ventilation shaft and a 768-metre hole for the production shaft.
The miner also completed on-site earthworks and geotechnical studies by using local contractors while the State of Emergency remained in effect in Botswana.
Botswana recently granted a 25-year extension to the Karowe Mine License to 2046, sufficient to cover the remaining open-pit life (to 2026) and the expected life of the proposed underground expansion, currently planned to 2040.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
