Company Announcement - Johannesburg based engineer and project delivery company DRA Global has commented that it is pleased and proud that its innovative process plant designs have assisted in the recovery of very large diamonds at the Karowe mine of Boteti Mining (Pty) Ltd, a 100% owned subsidiary of Lucara Diamond Corporation. Following on from the successful greenfields Karowe AK06 Diamond Project in Botswana completed and commissioned in April 2012, DRA was awarded the brownfields Phase 2 Karowe Plant Upgrade Project in March 2014 by Boteti Mining.  As part of the Phase 2 upgrade the need for a Large Diamond Recovery circuit was identified.

The inclusion of a Large Diamond Recovery circuit at Karowe utilising XRT (X-Ray Transmissive)  technology enabled an increase in the top size of material treated in the diamond recovery process. The selective nature of XRT sorting combined with the larger particle size treated allows for the recovery of larger diamonds compared to traditional diamond processing plants.   This approach provides for the early detection and recovery of large diamonds, thereby minimising diamond breakage associated with additional crushing and materials handling circuits in the downstream processes.

DRA’s Managing Director Africa, Johann de Bruin, comments: “Since the commissioning of the Karowe Upgrade Project and the associated Large Diamond Recovery circuit in mid 2015, the DRA design has proven to be as effective as envisaged.  The plant has recently recovered both the largest and second largest diamonds ever recovered in Botswana, with the massive 1111 carat stone being the largest diamond recovered so far this century!” De Bruin continues: “This project and its performance clearly prove that DRA continues to be the technical leader in the design and delivery of diamond recovery plants, and confirms again our position at the forefront of incorporating and utilising leading-edge and innovative process technologies”.