Digging deep in South Africa as diamond hunt gets tougher

Venetia Mine, South Africa

PROOF that diamonds are getting harder to find can be seen in the South African bush, where one of the world's largest mining companies is spending US$2 billion tunnelling beneath a vast open-pit mine.

De Beers spent 25 years digging a 450-metre deep by one-kilometre wide hole to access diamond-rich rock from the surface at the Venetia mine, close to the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana.