PARTNERING IN TECHNOLOGY FOR OUR FUTURE.
LET’S SOLVE THE HARD MINING PROBLEMS TOGETHER.

A PARTNER WITH SHARED VALUES, SPEED, AGILITY
& EXCELLENCE AT ITS CORE.
WE DELIVER CERTAINTY - WHEN IT MATTERS MOST.

TOGETHER WE CHART NEW PATHS FOR BESPOKE SOLUTION DELIVERY,
EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE.
YOUR SUCCESS IS OUR SUCCESS.

WE DELIVER GROUNDBREAKING MINING SOLUTIONS,
OFTEN WHEN OTHERS CAN’T.

WELCOME

All of the people, at every level of the Upstream Technology team in South Africa, believe in helping. We collaborate with all our customers and stakeholders by listening to understand their challenges and then contributing our knowledge, experience and technology to optimize and improve their businesses. We believe that team work is the key element to succeeding together. Co-operation and mutual respect form the basis of our internal operations and is central to our engagements with external customers.

Upstream Technology thrives on solving challenges through engaging diverse views, sparking fresh thinking and simplifying relentlessly in the application of technology. We are excited about the investigation of unique problems and what the exploration of new ideas can reveal.

We have a long history in the development of technology for the diamond mining industry but are equally enthusiastic about applying our knowledge and experience to overcoming challenges where ever they present themselves.

We believe that technology, imaginatively conceived, professionally developed, appropriately applied and consistently supported, is the best way to provide the help we want to give our customers.

ABOUT UPSTREAM TECHNOLOGY

Born from the integration of De Beers Marine and De Beers Group Ignite, Upstream Technology brings a combined experience of over 80 years in mining recovery technology, bespoke solution development, multidisciplinary engineering, procurement, complex capital project delivery (EPC/M), operations management, mine shutdowns, and maintenance.


A BRIEF HISTORY
In 2024, the Upstream Technology Business was established through the strategic merger of two existing De Beers Group entities: De Beers Marine (Pty) Ltd and Ignite - De Beers’ South African Diamond Recovery Technology and Advance Research Division.

DE BEERS MARINE
Founded in 1983 in South Africa, De Beers Marine was established to enable the mining of high-grade marine diamonds off the west coast of modern-day Namibia, within the Atlantic 1 concession area. In 2001, through a shareholder agreement with the Namibian Government, a strategic decision was taken based on access to ship repair port infrastructure and a large ecosystem of marine suppliers and expertise to restructure the business. With the operational Mining division forming De Beers Marine Namibia based in Namibia, while technical support remained in De Beers South Africa.

DE BEERS GROUP, IGNITE
The recovery technology business was founded in the 1950’s, when it was originally established as Debex – Mineral Processing Division (MPD). It later traded under DebTech and in 2021 it integrated into De Beers Group Ignite, the Group’s innovation and technology arm. The business was responsible for the development and deployment of proprietary diamond recovery and sorting technologies across the De Beers Group value chain.


CAPABILITY THAT SETS NEW STANDARDS
In 2024, the Upstream Technology Business was established through the strategic merger of two existing De Beers Group entities: De Beers Marine (Pty) Ltd and Ignite - De Beers’ South African Diamond Recovery Technology and Advance Research Division.

Key technology products include:

  • A range of conventional X-ray Luminescence (XRL) diamond sorters
  • New purpose built X-ray Transmission (XRT) based sorting systems that cater for both high feedrate and re-concentration diamond applications
  • The unique RhoVol densimetric measurement system
  • Non-nuclear dense medium controllers
  • High strength “MagRoll” magnetic separators
  • A range of luminescent tracers and ceramic diamond simulants to enable easy optimisation of our products.

Global technology support

Upstream Technology complements the product catalogue with a technical support and metallurgical services function. A full after sales support offering for our products is available worldwide from our experienced technicians and OEM engineers. In addition, comprehensive assessments or physical audits of diamond processing plant flowsheets as well as ore dressing studies (ODS) for capital projects can be provided.

PRODUCT TECHNICIANS
  • Telephonic/email support to sites
  • In-house repairs
  • Emergency assistance
  • Quarterly scheduled unit inspections
TECHNICAL TRAINING
  • Initial and refresh training
  • On-site or in-house
DMS AND RECOVERY AUDITS
  • Plant efficiency profiling
  • Technical assurance
PROCESS INVESTIGATIONS
  • Analysis and optimisation

OUR KEY PRODUCTS

RHOVOL

Densimetric Measurement System

BDT1122

XRT Re-Concentration Sorter

BWT1186

High Throughput Coarse XRT Sorter

CDUV 118 OSPREY

Ultra Violet diamond Scavenging Sorter

CDX 118CD & CWX 118CD MK2

Dual Wavelength X-ray Sorters

CDX 2216CD & CWX 2216CD MK2

Dual Wavelength X-ray Sorter

DMC

Non-nuclear Dense Medium Controller

MAGROLL

Wet or Dry Feed Application

RAVEN

Single Particle Sorter (Coarse and Fine)

XRT

Coarse Concentrator Plus

Tracers & Simulants

Upstream Technology Support

Technology Support - Process Services