Interesting tale of a diamond miner who discovered a whole different kind of riches on the sea shelf outside of Namibia.
There aren’t too many marine-based diamond miners operating in the world, but the Australian ABC news web site tells of of one in Diamond miner discovers undersea wealth
Bonaparte’s chief executive Mike Woodborne says the southern African nation of Namibia, on the Atlantic coast is well known for its unique deposits of gems.”Off the coast in Namibia it’s renowned as a world unique deposit of gem quality diamonds,” he told AM.
“The diamonds have travelled 1,000 kilometres from the hinterland of Africa down mighty rivers like the Orange, where they’ve been tumbled through quite strenuous environments, only the best-quality survive.
“So off the coast of Namibia you’ll find 95 per cent gem quality diamonds strewn on the beaches above and below the present sea level.”
Bonaparte has also discovered the seabed off Namibia is rich in marine phosphates which can be used to make fertiliser.
While the story discusses the environmental impact of dredging, it deems to be dismissed lightly:
However, Mr Woodborne says that because diamond mining and dredging is such an established practice in Namibia, there is legislation in place to effectively manage the industry
I have to wonder if the legislation effectively manages the practice in Namibia, or if the legislation is so weak that if fails to protect the environment…
Tags: mining, marine, diamonds
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.