De Beers to purchase mine in Botswana

are in the fray to buy the one-million-ton-a-year AK06 diamond mine in Botswana. Boteti has submitted its application for mining activities at AK06, which De Beers Prospecting Botswana had discovered on September 28. It would be African Diamonds’ first diamond mine in Botswana.

The mine is expected to be an open pit operation and displays a current life span of 10 years. The Boteti Exploration joint venture includes De Beers as a 66.2% stakeholder, African Diamonds a 28.8% shareholder, and the third - Wati Ventures holding 5.4% stake. The mine is expected to begin operations in the last quarter of 2009.