Diamond producer De Beers has sold its Jagersfontein mine, in South Africa’s Free State province, to black economic empowerment holding (BEE) company, the Superkolong Consortium for an undisclosed sum, miningweekly reported.

The miner in April announced its intention to sell the mine, where it had stopped operating in 1971, the report said.

The Jagersfontein mine operated for 100 years, leaving more than 13 million tons of mineral resources in tailings, with an average grade of 12.8 carats of diamonds per hundred tons.

The consortium would acquire all assets at Jagersfontein, including the mine dumps, De Beers said.

Superkolong had met all the criteria set by De Beers, including technical competence, available funding to develop the new processing operation, BEE equity participation, employment creation and significant community based initiatives.

“I am very pleased to say that De Beers, with some determination to do the right thing, and taking the time necessary to engage with stakeholders affected by our business, has concluded another transaction to introduce miners with empowerment credentials to opportunities which have the potential to deliver significant returns for many,”Barend Peterson, acting CEO of the diamond company, said.



De Beers stated that the Jagersfontein community would be the sole beneficiary of a soon to be established community trust, which would hold a 10% equity interest in the consortium’s assets.

The new owners of Jagersfontein and members of the local community would be selected as trustees.

The trust would also, on formation and registration, receive R20 million in cash for investment and, after due process, expenditure on community benefiting projects.

Thirdly, the trust would have a deferred right to an amount of R30 million, which would accrue interest over time and contribute to the future financial position of the trust.

The Superkolong consortium has also made a commitment to facilitate skills transfer to the members of the community with a view to ultimately sourcing skilled labour from Jagersfontein, De Beers said.

Miningweekly.com.