Lets'eng Diamond Mine - A Resurrection in Lesotho

After De Beers abandoned the Lets'eng diamond mine in northern Lesotho in 1982, its new owners have survived political riots and economic depressions and are now selling their rough in Antwerp.

At an altitude of 3,250 meters above sea level, Lets'eng is the highest diamond mine in the world and one of the coldest places in Africa. But that didn’t stop De Beers from mining the rough gems there until the global rough diamond market declined in the early 80s and the company seized operations at the mine.

A decade later, in 1995, the government of Lesotho decided to reopen the diamond mine. Lets'eng Diamonds Pty won the tender in 1998 but did not receive the lease until a year later.

It took the company another year until it started restoring infrastructure. "We started very slowly due to the depressed economic climate in Lesotho because of the political riots of 1998,” said Paki Kolobe, director of Lets'eng Diamonds Pty.

The turnaround came after Lesotho’s general elections in 2002, which restored confidence in the economy and encouraged investments in the mine.

South Africa’s JCI is the main financial backer of the mine, with the government of Lesotho holding a 36 percent stake in the venture and 12 percent is held by the public.

Production restarted in April last year on a small scale with the help of two alluvial contractors from Namibia and South Africa and mined three large stones that were sold in Antwerp for $5.6 million.

“We are currently testing the 160 million rand ($24.6 million) production plant and will go into full production some time in spring this year. We were supposed to officially launch full production of the mine in June this year, but terribly cold weather conditions did not allow us to do so,” Kolobe told the Sapa news agency in an interview.

Last month, the mine sold $3.3 million worth of rough in Antwerp.

With a workforce of 291, Kolobe hopes to have the mine operating round-the-clock, seven days a week.