De Beers' Voorspoed mine to open Nov. 4

JOHANNESBURG, Oct 8 (Reuters) - De Beers will next month open its new Voorspoed mine, which it expects within a decade to produce over 10 million carats including gem diamonds and rare coloured diamonds, the company said on Wednesday.

The world's biggest diamond producer, in which miner Anglo American (AAL.L) has a 45 percent stake, said it had been 16 years since the last kimberlite pipe mine was unveiled in the country. Kimberlite is a type of volcanic rock best known for containing diamonds.

De Beers said the mine, in South Africa's Free State province, would be launched on Nov. 4 and would be the first such mine opened by it as a broad based black economic empowerment (BEE) company.

BEE is part of a government drive to include blacks in the mainstream economy after exclusion under apartheid.

De Beers has sold off loss-making mines as part of a strategic review, and plans to focus on new higher-margin projects such as Voorspoed and the marine mining off the West Coast of South Africa.

(Reporting by James Macharia; editing by Christopher Johnson)