Drag to turn the globe

Mines/South Africa

Venetia mine

Venetia mine, South Africa. Producing, open pit and underground, mining diamonds.

Why Venetia is famous

Venetia is a De Beers diamond mine in South Africa. It produced 3.77 million carats in 2020, up from 1.92 million in 2019 on higher grades, and 5.31 million carats in 2021. Surface reserves were near depletion by the end of 2020, so De Beers was building Venetia Underground to extend the life beyond 2045. Underground output was due to start in the third quarter of 2022.1,2

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 1905Cullinan diamond found3

What kind of deposit

Kimberlite and lamproite pipe

Venetia today

Mining in South Africa

Where next

Events

ExamplesCullinan diamond foundSouth Africa still digs diamonds: Venetia made 3.77 million carats in 2020.1

Places

Located inMapungubweVenetia is about 26 km from Mapungubwe.1

Deposit types

An example ofKimberlite and lamproite pipeVenetia belongs to the kimberlite and lamproite pipe family of deposits.4

Sources

  1. 2020-21 Minerals Yearbook, South Africa (advance release) US Geological Survey
  2. Venetia Diamond Mine (Q7919717) Wikidata
  3. Cullinan I and II diamonds, Summer 2006 Gems and Gemology (GIA)
  4. Mineral Deposit Models (Bulletin 1693, Cox and Singer, eds., 1986) US Geological Survey

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

The Big Hole at Kimberley, South Africa, seen from above, with water at the bottomMining historyThe Big Hole, KimberleyDiamonds · South AfricaThe Super Pit gold mine at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, at sunsetMining historyGold rushes, then and nowGold and lithium · WorldwideAn underground loader carrying a full bucket of rock through a dark mine roomEquipmentUnderground mining equipmentUnderground · FleetHistory of miningDiamonds and deep gold: Kimberley and the Rand1867-1946

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: The Big Hole by Rudolph Botha, CC BY-SA 3.0; Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Kimberley, South Africa: the Kimberley mine and town. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).