DE BEERS’ RESEARCH TO MAKE CARBON-NEUTRAL MINING A REALITY
The De Beers Group have announced that it is leading a ground-breaking research project that aims to deliver carbon-neutral mining at some of the company’s operations in as few as five years.
The company’s scientists are working in close collaboration with a team of internationally-renowned scientists to investigate the potential to store large volumes of carbon at its diamond mines through the mineralisation of kimberlite tailings.
De Beers Group will investigate the storage potential across its diamond mines globally. It is the first time such extensive research has been > undertaken to assess the carbonation potential of kimberlite, whichhas been found to offer ideal properties for storing carbon through mineral carbonation technologies.
The project aims to accelerate what is already a naturally occurring and safe process of extracting carbon from the atmosphere and storing it at a speed that could offset man-made carbon emissions. Scientists estimate that the carbon storage potential of kimberlite tailings produced by a diamond mine every year could offset up to 10 times the emissions of a typical mine.