Red Flags Raised as Fishers Lose and Small-Scale Marine Diamond Miners Chew Rocks

Shallow water diamond mining is rare, practised nowhere on earth in the way it is along a marine zone that straddles the Namibian and South African borders. Unique methods and a unique culture have developed here over the last four decades or so. Like small-scale fishers, in recent years this sector has taken a beating. There are no more ‘easy’ diamonds, operators are boxed in by big corporates, the COVID-19 pandemic has got in the way, and climate change is affecting operations. More threatening however, are the numerous mining applications for tracts of coastline from Columbine to the Orange River.