WELCOME TO
ALEXKOR
OUR HISTORY
Alexkor was established in terms of the Alexkor Limited Act, No. 116 of 1992, and amended by the Alexkor Amendment Act, No. 29 of 2001.
Alexkor is a listed schedule 2 public entity wholly owned by the government through the Minister of Public Enterprises being the shareholder representative.
The company has two divisions or business units, which are the Alexander Bay Mining (Alexkor RMC JV) and the Alexkor corporate unit. The mining division is the core business of the company, exploiting a large land-based diamond resource and extensive diamondiferous marine deposits.
While Alexkor, as a commercialized state asset, is not perceived as a strategic asset in the national sense, it has significant strategic importance for the Namaqualand region.
The core business of Alexkor is the mining of diamonds on land, along rivers, on beaches and in the sea along the north-west coast of South Africa. These activities are complemented by geology, exploration, ore reserve planning, rehabilitation and environmental management.
The non-core business activities comprises of residential services, community services, outside engineering services, external transport services, guest houses, fuel station and an airport.
The management of considerable investment funds, together with the traditional supporting services (information system, human resources, etc.), constitutes additional non-core business activities.
Alexkor’s distinctive competencies are its quality of diamonds and it’s unique land and mineral resources. Over the life of the mine approximately 10,000,000 cts of gemstone quality diamonds have been recovered.
Our Mission
To grow a mining entity that builds a legacy driven by growth, build shareholders interest, effective leadership, the fostering of personal and professional growth of the staff, cost effectiveness, strengthening social cohesion of communities, promote safe and healthy mining practices, practice environmental compliance and build financial sustainability.
Our Vision
To unlock the value embedded in diamond mining in order to ensure the economic and social sustainability of the Richtersveld community.
We will achieve this by:
- Turning Alexkor SOC Ltd (Alexkor) around into a viable dynamic mining company
- Focusing on organic growth at Alexander Bay
- Acquisition of new opportunities
- Creating a sustainable, healthy, safe and environmentally responsible organisation
- Caring for people, providing sound leadership and building credible processes
- Building strong relationships with all our strategic partners
Core Values
Alexkor subscribes to five key values. Each value is described as follows:
OUR DIAMONDS
In 1908 the first diamonds were discovered along the west coast of southern Africa at Kolmanskop near Luderitz. This led to the subsequent discovery of the rich diamond deposits mined by Consolidated Diamond Mines along what is now the Namibian Coastline.
It was not until 1925 that the first diamond was discovered in Namaqualand on the Port Nolloth Reserve. Shortly thereafter, concentrated prospecting operations began between The Cliffs north of Port Nolloth and the Orange River estuary with only minor activity taking place to the south towards Kleinzee. In 1926, the rich deposits at Alexander Bay were discovered. These deposits proved so rich that in 1927 the Government prohibited all further diamond prospecting on state owned land in Namaqualand.
During this time prospecting operations at Kleinzee were laying the foundation for what was to become the De Beers Namaqualand Mines. In 1928 the South African Government started mining operations at Alexander Bay (now Alexkor). Later diamonds were also discovered and mined elsewhere along the vast coastline.
It was not until 1954 that the first offshore diamond prospecting was started and between 1961 and 1965, a Texan entrepreneur through the Marine Diamond Corporation (now De Beers Marine) gave the impetus needed for geological exploration on the continental shelf by exploiting diamonds offshore along the coastline of then South West Africa.
This has manifested itself into a growing industry with diamonds having been discovered and mined in the nearshore and offshore environments along the coastline from south of the Olifants river in South Africa to some 120km north of Hottentots Bay in Namibia.