Group Exploration is focused on projects in Angola, Botswana, Canada, the DRC, India, Namibia, Russian Federation and South Africa.
The exploration team discovered 45 kimberlites in 2007, the bulk of which were in the DRC and Angola.
Due to their promising results, these projects will receive priority to fast-track them from early stage exploration to advanced exploration.
We will continue to focus on Angola and the DRC to extract technical information in the short term.
Focus in other countries will be on planning, identifying priority target areas and executing the discovery phase to fully develop exploration portfolios that will be able to deliver in the medium term.
In southern Africa, Namdeb and DBCM, and their respective joint venture partners, prioritised early stage exploration in northern Namibia and South Africa respectively.
The operation in India was restructured to gear it for early stage exploration.
De Beers has steadily increased its exploration activities in the Russian Federation where technical collaboration and relationship-building efforts continue with Alrosa and other entities.
Environment, Community, Occupational Health and Safety (ECOHS) overview
The combined Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) for exploration was 0.20 in 2007 (2006: 0.37). This significant drop was the result of senior managers refocusing on health and safety issues, as well as staff training. There were no fatalities.
Group Exploration, facilitated by ECHOS Guidelines and Values, has developed a corporate social responsibility framework to guide the various community projects that each of the ventures is involved in.
Environmental and social baseline studies were completed in Angola and Botswana and are planned for the DRC.
Learn about our approach to sustainability >