The most notable diamond mine in this provence of South Africa is the Venetia Diamond Mine. The Venetia is an open-pit diamond mine that produces over 40% of the world's gem-quality diamonds. The Venetia diamond mine opened in 1992, and is the De Beers Company's flagship operation today. Diamonds are extracted from the undisturbed kimberlite within the pit as well as from the overshot-zone using drilling and/or blasting (below, right).
Venetia is a conventional open-pit mine located on a kimberlite pipe. At present the mine employs surface mining techniques that are expected to carry on for 20 years. After that point it will be determined if it is feasible to continue the mining operation using underground "hard rock" mining.
located in Limpopo's north-east is The Oaks Diamond Mine 20km south-east of Swartwater. The Oaks is one of South Africa's newer diamond mines, operated by De Beers Group.
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