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Letseng

Letseng-la-Terae Travel Blog › entry 3 of 9 › view all entries

I guess a subtitle for this blog could be â€˜mixing business with pleasureâ€™. I had been working for a while on this project for a diamond mine in Lesotho so was very excited when I had a chance to go and visit the site high up in the mountains of that country, at around 3100m!

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Letseng

February 3, 2008

The mine

I wonâ€™t go into details on the purpose of this visit. I can just mention that this mine was abandoned in the early 80s but has re-opened a few years ago. Some amazing diamonds have been found on this mine, as big as 603 carats!!!

Shortly before our visit a 125 carat stone was found. I was lucky to be able to see it and hold it in my hands! As I was admiring it the mine official told me how much it was worth: US$2.8 Million! Good thing I didnâ€™t drop it! That was quite an exceptional experience. I have also spent time on some DeBeers diamond mines but was never able to go anywhere close to the stones!

On Friday morning we left the mine. My colleagues went back to Fouriesburg and Joburg. I continued on that road towards Mokhotlong. I enjoyed the scenery of this desolate plateau with a few huts here and there, and the locals working in the fields.