Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

dredge technology that has been introduced, and sea walls that have been
built so that normal mining practices are able to systematically mine 20
metres below sea level along large stretches of the Namibian coastline. Dr.
Corbett stated that innovation has been the key, pointing to innovation as
the common thread between onshore and offshore mining operations.
With regard to the terminology that De Beers and NAMDEB
utilized to describe operations on the coast, Dr. Corbett said that ultra
shallow water means operations conducted between the high water mark
on the present day beach out to 15 metres of water depth; shallow water
means operations conducted from a water depth of 15 to 30 metres; midwater
means operations conducted between 30 metres to about 70 metres
water depth, at about which the shelf break from the inner shelf to the
middle shelf of Namibia occurs, and deep water means operations
conducted between 200 metres and 500 metres depth. Dr. Corbett
described the mid-water depth as an extremely rugged area, containing
gullies that could be several metres deep (Figure 5).
Once more through slides, Dr. Corbett showed participants the
geographic locations of some of NAMDEB’s prospecting licenses. These
included the Atlantic 1 mining licence, and other areas for which it had
obtained exclusive offshore prospecting licences (Figure 2). He informed
participants that some of the prospecting licenses extend approximately to
200 metres water depth at the edge of the continental shelf and that their
deepwater exclusive prospecting licences extend from 200 metres to 500
metres water depth. Dr. Corbett said that other companies hold
deepwater licences in the south in particular, that extend to 2,000 metres of
water depth.
Dr. Corbett emphasized that the key to offshore diamond
discovery in Namibia came with entrepreneurial spirit, through Sammy
Collins, a Texan entrepreneur who was involved in Namibian contract to
lay a fuel pipeline to allow diesel to be brought in by offshore tankers to
CDM. Making the point that the tankers are still the largest privately
owned earthmoving fleet in the world, Dr. Corbett said that according to
folklore, it is reported that as Sammy Collins stood on the beach one day
he said, “Well, if there are diamonds here, why aren’t they there?” Dr.
Corbett said that “ why aren’t they there” was a question that not many
people had asked and at the time conventional wisdom said diamonds
would not be found there. In 1961, Dr. Corbett said that Sammy Collins
formed the Marine Diamond Corporation, and initiated the offshore
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