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Description:
Diamond vessel in Cape Town in 2003. Further details, see below.
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Supply Ships/Tug Supplies/AHTS - 6 photos
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She is operated by Sakawe Mining Corporation (Samicor), which is part of LL Mining, which again is part of the Lev Leviev Group. The group, which is owned by with a turnover of more than US$2 billion per annum.
The picture shows the vessel at a yard in Cape Town in July 2003 while being refurbished and renamed “Sakawe Miner”. She had been named “Namibian Gem” in the period 1995-2003, in which period she was operated by now-defunct Namibian miners Namco. She was converted into a diamond mining ship from the offshore supply vessel “Regal Service” in 1994/1995. “Regal Service” was owned by Zapata Gulf Marine which later became part of US offshore vessel giant Tidewater. She was delivered as “Regal Service” from Hermann Suerken GmbH & Co. KG, Papenburg, Germany in December 1976.
P.S: This one wasn’t easy. I have reviewed the whole world fleet of diamond mining vessels in LR Fairplay’s Sea-Web database (www.sea-web.com) and other sources to identify her. It is quite an interesting business. The biggest mining vessel operator is (as many of you will know) the famous De Beers group. They have a fleet of seven vessels and is currently converting “Dock Express 20” into their eighth diamond mining vessel. De Beers has a near monopoly on diamond production and invented the hugely successful “Diamonds are forever” slogan, which they also managed to get 007 producers to make the title of a 1971 James Bond movie.
Best regards
Mats
Oslo
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