The Geological Society of South Africa Professional Programmes Committee in conjunction with John Bristow and Mike DeWit is once again running the Kimberley Diamond Symposium and Trade Show in Kimberley from 10th – 13th September 2014.  A similar highly successful Diamond Symposium was held in 2007 in Kimberley. 

The Symposium is being organized by RCA (Pty) Ltd who also helped organize the 2007 Kimberley Diamond Symposium.  Interested parties can contact Robbie at robbie@rca.co.za (telephone +27 (0)11 487 3819/2260), John Bristow jwbdia@mweb.co.za , or Mike De Wit dewit@icon.co.za and visit the following websites for more information www.gssa.org.za , or www.rca.co.za

Following the World Financial Crisis of 2008/09 and subsequent down turn in the local and international diamond industry, the past 18 months have seen the steady resurgence of the diamond trade, with renewed interest in mine development and expansions in South Africa and Botswana, and new project development in Brazil and Canada.  Diamond exploration activities are also showing some green shoots.  New technologies and refinements are surfacing in all facets of the diamond industry including exploration methods and geophysics, processing plant design and optimization, diamond recovery systems, and diamond cutting and polishing.  Reprocessing of old tailings dumps is also increasingly providing further sources of gemstone diamonds along with the recycling of old diamond jewellery.   Currently there is also lively debate about the role and place of synthetic diamonds in diamond jewellery.  With Carbon Vapour Deposition and High Pressure High Temperature technologies for diamond synthesis advancing rapidly, and annual production of synthetic diamonds somewhere in the 6 – 10 billion carat range compared to natural production of 130 million carats per annum, it is inevitable that synthetic diamonds will find their way into the diamond jewellery business.

The 2014 Kimberley Diamond Symposium will provide a platform to highlight and discuss changes and trends in the local and international diamond industry.  It will also showcase new technological developments in diamond exploration, geophysics, processing and recovery equipment, present new scientific information relating to the origin of diamonds and the formation of diamond bearing deposits, and provide an opportunity to debate other developments noted above.  Looking forward, the world diamond market is facing declining production and steadily increasing demand.  Consequently new discoveries, mine expansions, and additional production will be required to fill the growing gap between supply and demand.  As the local and international diamond industry emerges from four to five challenging years the Kimberley Diamond Symposium will also provide an ideal event to show how the challenges of the past four to five years have been addressed and provide insights into the future of the industry.

Kimberley is where the diamond business started in South Africa.  Hence the Symposium will also take this fascinating industry back to its local roots.  The event will in this respect also highlight the various mining and developmental activities that continue to make the town of Kimberley and the Northern Cape an important focal point of the local and international diamond business. The Kimberley Diamond Symposium will comprise a day and a half of technical presentations and poster sessions, indoor and outdoor exhibitor displays, and two days of mine visits, including underground visits and field trips.

The technical and poster sessions have attracted considerable interest from local and international diamond experts, researchers and companies and will focus on wide ranging new developments, trends, and leading edge research and development in the diamond industry. The planned field trips will have tour guides with specific knowledge of the areas, geology and activities to be seen on these trips.

The following destinations and mines have been targeted as part of the field and mine trip programme:

• Underground visit to the famous Kimberley Mines lead by Petra Diamonds
• Underground trip to the World class Finsch diamond mine owned by Petra Diamonds
• Nooitgedacht & Barkly West Alluvial Diamond Tour including Kanteen Koppie, and Holpan-Klipdam alluvial deposits
• Middle Orange River to inspect alluvial deposits and mining operations on extensive ancient remnant terrace deposits, and visit DeKalk which is the site of the first diamond discovery in South Africa
• Rooipoort Vaal River alluvial diamond mining operations, rehabilitation activities, and unique wildlife viewing opportunity
• Ekapa Mining dump retreatment operation which is reprocessing old Kimberley tailings dumps
• Roberts Victor mine trip to sample unique eclogite and other nodules from a micaceous Group 2 kimberlite locality
• Kimberley ‘Big-holes’, Tailings Dumps, and Mantle Nodule Tour

The upgraded Kimberley Big Hole Diamond Museum where DeBeers spent approximately R50-million to help redevelop this facility into a world class museum is a great place for tourists as well as for people interested in the industry. The famous Kimberley Club, with all its history and character will also feature in the activities of the Symposium, and there will be opportunity for delegates and their Partners to experience other unique pieces of South African history and politics including the places of interest listed below:

• Belgravia Historical Walk incorporating Historical Houses and places of interest in Kimberley
• Kimberley Africana Library
• Sol Plaatjie Museum
• Kimberley Ghost Tour
• Magersfontein Boer War Battlegrounds
• Pioneers of Aviation Museum
• Macgregor Museum
• William Humphreys Art Gallery
• Kamfersdam Flamingo Colony
• Wildebeest Kuil Rock Art Centre
• Nooitgedacht Glacial Pavements
• Kanteen Koppie – sight of the first alluvial digging at Barkly West (Klipdrift) on the Vaal River

A number of key Sponsors, including De Beers, have already signed up for the Symposium, and as noted above there has been excellent interest in the September 2014 Kimberley Diamond Symposium.  Interest includes local and international geologists, engineers and diamond researchers.  A wide range of service providers and equipment suppliers and manufacturers, including large earth moving companies, will be exhibiting their wares.

Besides the participation many well-known diamond operators, scientists and individuals, the Symposium also intends to attract old characters of the industry including diamond diggers from the Vaal and Orange River, and Ventersdorp  areas, many of whom have become legends in the industry, and are now in their senior years. The intention is again to bring these characters together to share some of their experiences and pioneering deeds, and chat about some of the large and remarkable diamonds that they have recovered in the Northern Cape. To date registrations have been received from Australian, Brazilian, Canadian, UK, Russian, African and local companies, individuals, researchers, and service providers.  Space is filling up fast for the Symposium, Fieldtrips, and Trade Show and interested parties are advised to register early.