The University of Pretoria’s (UP’s) Department of Geology will present a short course on diamonds from October 18 to 21, which includes a site visit to diamond miner Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan mine, in Gauteng.

The short course, launched in 2011, is led by independent diamond consultant Dr John Bristow and diamond, base and precious metals exploration company Tsodilo Resources COO Mike de Wit. It is designed to provide students with “a comprehensive snapshot of the full cross section of the diamond industry”, Bristow explains.

“The course is aimed at geology honours students and industry participants and forms a concentrated modern learning and refresher module for this fascinating industry, which has been active for about 4 000 years,” he adds.

The first day of the course covers topics such as the history of diamonds; the origin of diamonds, kimberlites, lamproites and cratons; structural geology control on the distribution of kimberlites and lamproites; modern exploration techniques; geophysical exploration methods; diamond indicator or ‘pathfinder’ mineral studies; and mineral chemistry and microdiamond interpretative techniques.

Primary and secondary sources of diamonds are covered on the second day and information presented provides insight into the distribution of secondary or alluvial diamond deposits across Southern, Central and West Africa. Geological settings, controls and the formation and provenance of the many unique and exceptional marine placer and land-based alluvial diamond deposits of Southern Africa are also covered.

The third day will focus on the exploitation, evaluation and economic valuation of diamond deposits and covers topics such as opencast and underground mining methods, the treatment and processing of diamond-bearing ores, recovery of diamonds, and statistical tools, such as size frequency analysis for assisting with the characterisation of diamond populations, valuations, and plant efficiency and shrinkage monitoring. Insight is also provided in respect of the handling, valuation, marketing and sale of rough diamonds.

Finally, information presented during the course is collectively drawn into the approaches typically used for due diligence, evaluation, and creation of financial valuation models of primary and secondary diamond development and mining projects. Requirements for the presentation of diamond mineral resources to investors and shareholders of public companies will also be covered on the third day.

The course will conclude with a site visit to the Cullinan mine, where surface and underground operations can be observed.

“This is a world-class course, which provides exposure to a world-class diamond mine in Cullinan,” Bristow states, adding that students will gain invaluable experience. “I learned my geology best by going into the field and going to mines,” he adds.

He tells Mining Weekly that the course material was designed through consultation with companies in the diamond sector, resulting in content aimed at addressing the current skills requirements of the sector, thereby providing graduates with industry- relevant experiential training.

The industry is constantly changing and one of the prominent themes for this year’s short course will be technological innovations that are helping to transform the industry and improve efficiencies across all facets, including insight into the application of technologies used at the processing and recovery plant of diamond miner Lucara’s Karowe mine, in Botswana, Bristow adds.

“Last year, a number of exceptionally large white D-flawless Type-2 diamonds, including an 813 ct and 1 111 ct gem, the second- largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered, were found at the Karowe mine. The 813 ct stone was sold for about $62-million in the rough,” Bristow points out.

Presentations and course material are provided pro bono by a number of leading locally and internationally recognised diamond industry professionals, such as mining major Anglo American principal geologist Hielke Jelsma, University of Johannesburg geology principal researcher Professor Fanus Viljoen, De Beers principal geoscientist Johann Stiefenhofer, geological consultant and alluvial specialist Dr John Ward, and diamond marketing and sales company Flawless Diamond Trading House rough diamond expert Grant Ziegler.