The Damtshaa diamond mine is a diamond mine located in Botswana about 220 kilometers (140 miles) west of the city of Francistown. Damtshaa, meaning "water for a tortoise", is owned by Debswana, a partnership between the De Beers company and the government of Botswana. It is the newest of four mines operated by the company, officially opening on October 25, 2003. Jump to: navigation, search A scattering of round-brilliant cut diamonds shows off the many reflecting facets. ... The El Chino Mine located near Silver City, New Mexico is an open-pit copper mine Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, usually (but not always) from an ore body, vein, or (coal) seam. ... Francistown is the second largest city in Botswana, with a population of about 90,000. ... Genera Chersina Dipsochelys Furculachelys Geochelone Gopherus Homopus Indotestudo Kinixys Malacochersus Manouria Psammobates Pyxis Testudo Tortoise is the name given to land-dwelling reptiles most of whose body is shielded by a special shell. ... Jump to: navigation, search Debswana Diamond Company Ltd, or simply Debswana, is a mining company located in Botswana, and is the worlds leading producer of diamonds by value. ... In the common law, a partnership is a type of business entity in which partners share with each other the profits or losses of the business undertaking in which they have all invested. ... The De Beers Group is a Johannesburg- and London-based diamond mining and trading corporation. ... Jump to: navigation, search October 25 is the 298th day of the year (299th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 67 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Damtshaa is of open pit construction, located on top of four distinct kimberlite pipes of varying ore grade. The mine is forecast to produce about 5 million carats (1,000 kg) of diamond from 39 million tons of ore over the projected 31 year life of the mine. In 2003, the Damtshaa mine produced 292,000 carats (58.4 kg). Recovered ore grade averages about 0.06 carats (12 mg) per metric ton. The ore produced at Damtshaa is processed at a processing plant at its sister mine, the Orapa diamond mine, about 20 km (12 miles) distant. The Damtshaa mine is also managed from the Orapa mine, and is included in Orapa's and Letlhakane's safety and environmental programs, meaning that Damtshaa is also ISO 14001 certified. Damtshaa employs around 180 people. The El Chino mine located near Silver City, New Mexico is an open-pit copper mine Open-pit mining refers to a method of extracting rock or minerals from the earth by their removal from an open pit or borrow. ... Hewn kimberlite core sample from the James Bay Lowlands region of Northern Ontario, Canada. ... Volcanic pipes are subterranean geological structures formed by the violent, supersonic eruption of deep-origin volcanoes. ... Ore grade is a measure that describes the concentration of a valuable natural material (such as metals or minerals) in its surrounding ore. ... The carat is a unit of mass used for gems, and equals 200 milligrams. ... An ore is a mineral deposit containing a metal or other valuable resource in economically viable concentrations. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A tonne (also called metric ton) is a non-SI unit of mass, accepted for use with SI, defined as: 1 tonne = 103 kg (= 106 g). ... The Orapa diamond mine is the worlds largest diamond mine. ... The ISO 14000 environmental management standards exist to ensure products and services have the lowest possible environmental impact. ...

References

• http://www.debswana.com (Retrieved April 14, 2005)