Lesotho Water and diamonds are Lesotho's significant natural resources. Water is used through the 21-year, multibillion-dollar Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), under the authority of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority. The project commenced in 1986. The LHWP is designed to capture, store, and transfer water from the Orange River system to South Africa's Free State and greater Johannesburg area, which features a large concentration of South African industry, population, and agriculture. Completion of the first phase of the project has made Lesotho almost completely self-sufficient in the production of electricity and generated approximately US$70 million in 2010 from the sale of
Geology of Lesotho only large fault in the country, running northeast-southwest with a vertical displacement of 300 meters near Mafeteng, although there are other smaller faults. More than 50% of Lesotho's territory is underlain by fractured igneous rock aquifers, such as the low permeability basalt of the Lesotho Formation. Dolerite-dike related aquifers have high water productivity in fractures that formed in the surrounding rock due to the high temperature of the intrusion. The sandstones of the Clarens Formation, Elliot Formation and Burgersdorp Formation are small or low quality aquifers, but the Molteno Formation is regarded as the best aquifer in Lesotho with high