Gem Diamonds Awarded Gope Mining License

Proposed mining at Gope led to calls to boycott De Beers and Botswana's Diamonds, the last such protest took place last November in London (above) and NYC

(IDEX Online News) - Gope Exploration Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gem Diamonds Limited, has been awarded a mining license for the Gope diamond deposit by the Government of Botswana. The Gope concession faced criticism in the past for allegedly harming the ancestral homeland of the Basarwa Bushmen.

Gem Diamonds plans a phased approach to the construction of the mine, with an underground mine planned to improve the company’s knowledge of the ore body, diamond valuation and metallurgical characteristics.

After an initial period of mining, the production capacity will be scaled up to a higher steady state. The life of mine at Gope is currently estimated to be in excess of 30 years. The mining license has been granted for a period of 25 years.

The company said that details of the mine plan and the relevant staged capital expenditure will be announced on March 15 with the 2010 results.

Until 2007, 50 percent of the concession was owned by De Beers, which was under criticism together with the government of Botswana for allegedly moving the Basarwa off their land and away from water and grazing sources.

“The Company remains committed to continue working closely with the project’s affected communities and other interested parties,” Gem Diamonds said in the Tuesday release.

According to CEO Clifford Elphick, “Gem Diamonds remains committed to implementing sustainable solutions to the environmental and community related issues in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and we embrace the opportunity to continue our work with the project’s affected communities and other interested parties to ensure that the benefits of the Gope asset are realized for the community as a whole.”