Development is a process that creates growth, progress, positive change or the additional of physical, economic, environmental, social and demographic components.

1. FEW OF THE DEVELOPMENTS IN
LESOTHO
We have so many developments in Lesotho. Among those developments we have the dams
and mines. There are so many dams but I am going to talk about Katse dam and Mohale dam.
Also there are many mines at different places in Lesotho, amongst those mines I will be
talking about Lets’eng diamond mine and Liqhobong diamond mine.

2. KATSE DAM
Between 1989 and 2007 the World Bank one of the funders of Lesotho Highlands Water Project in South
Africa. This project which included two large dams (Katse and Mohole).
It is situated on the Malibamats’o River, which is a tributary of the Senqu River. It is located in Lesotho. It is
double curvature concred arc dam, 1993 m above sea level. The intake tower is located approximately 18 k
north of Katse dam and has been designed to accommodated 70 m3/s.
KATSE DAM

3. BELOW IS THE VIDEO OF KATSE DAM

4. MOHALE
• It is situated on the senqunyane river Lesotho.
• It is the second lagest dam in Lesotho
Highlands Water project .
• It is the concred face rockfill dam
• It is connected to Katse dam through a
transfer tunnel.
The Mohale Tunnel is located higher up in the
Lesotho basalt, and whilst the overall
characteristics of the basalt flows may be
assumed to be similar, the specific nature of the
individual flows may differ somewhat from those
lower down. Nonetheless the documentation
issued to bidders for the Mohale tunnel adopted
the transfer tunnel geological model and it was
decided that a fully lined tunnel should be
provided.

5. Lets’eng diamond mine is an existing mine located in
the North west Lesotho highlands. The mine is owned
by Lets’eng diamonds (Pty) Ltd (Lets’eng diamonds)
with joint shareholding by Gem diamonds and the
government of Lesotho. Lests’eng has been operating
since 2004.
Lets’eng Diamond announce the recovery of a
169.15ct type II white diamond recovered at the
Lets’eng mine in Mokhotlong on 18 April 2024. This is
the fourth greater than 100 carat diamond recovered
to date this year.
Lets’eng Diamond Mine

6. Furthermore, Lets’eng diamond(LD) is a Lesotho registered company formed in 1995. LD is
70% owned by Gem Diamonds Limited and 30% owned by the Lesotho Government. Gem
Diamonds is leading global producer of high value diamonds and is listed on the London
Stock Exchange. LD is famous for producing large, top colour white diamonds making it
highest average dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world.
The Lets’eng-la-Terae kimberlite pipes(the main pipe and the Satellite Pipe) were formally
discovered in 1957. The pipes were declared a government digging from 1959 to 1967 during
which time there were up to 6 000 local diggers on the site.
Lets’eng resource is unique. It combines a relatively low-grade ore with high-quality large
diamonds. This uniqueness necessitates special care to be taken during the diamond recovery
process to ensure that diamond damage is avoided and that the optimal diamond liberation steps
are included in the process plant.
The upgrate of Lets’eng’s plant 2 was completed in March 2015. The upgrade aimed to address
the unique requirements of the Lets’eng resource by increasing plant 2’s output from 400 to 450
tons an hour.

7. LIQHOBONG
The Liqhobong diamond mine(‘Liqhobong’) in Lesotho is Firestone’s principal asset, and
was acquired as a result of the acquisition of Kopane Diamond Developments plc in
September 2010. It is located at the head of the Liqhobong Valley in the Maloti mountains
of northen Lesotho and is operated by Liqhobong Mining Developmend
Company(Property) Limited (‘LMDC’), which is 75% owned by Firestone Diamond and
25% owned by the Government of Lesotho.
The diamond deposit was first discovered in the late 1950s, and over the past 60 years it
has been through a series of feasibility studies and trial mining phases, none of which
proved to be financially viable. In 2010, firestone acquired its 75% interest and
successfully completed all the required work to finalized a detailed definitive feasibility
study and subsequently raised the necessary funds to begin building in 2014.
The company successfully completed its fast paced contraction schedule for Liqhobong,
which commenced in July2014, in earlyQ4 2016, with zero lost time injuries, on time and
on time and on budget. Liqhobong joined the short list of diamond producers in October
2016, as its production ramp-up started. A number of special stones and coloured
diamond, have been recovered.

8. In addition, the diamond deposit was first discovered in the late 1950s and over the past 60 years it has
been through a series of feasibility studies and trial mining phases, none of which proved to be
financially viable. In 2010 Firestone acquired its 75% interest and successfully completed all the
required work to finalize a detail definitive feasibility study and subsequently raised the necessary funds
to begin building in 2014.
LIQHOBOMG DIAMOND MINE

9. I have discussed the biggest dams and few mines in Lesotho but that does not mean
they are the only dams and mines in Lesotho there are so many of them.
CONCLUSION

10. https://wis.orasecom.org
https://firestonediamonds.com
https://www.letsengdiamonds.co.ls
by ‘Mants’episeng Tubatsi
REFFERWNCES