Richland Resources (LON:RLD) had seen significant progress in attempts to reclaim its tanzanite mine in Tanzania from illegal miners, it said today.
Infrastructure repair and selective mining has commenced in some sections of CT shaft, which have now been re-entered following a government–backed operation to expel the illegal miners from the southern portion of Block C of the Merelani mine that started in September.
Tanzanite production totalled 622,551 carats in the three months to September after 5,675 tonnes of material was processed with recovery at an average grade of 110 carats per tonne.
Grades are low currently as Richland cannot access the high quality areas due to the illegal mining and damage it has caused.
Revenues for the quarter were US$3.1mln, comprising US$2.1mln from TanzaniteOne Mining and US$0.86mln from the retail arm.
Because of its problems in Tanzania, Richland has recently switched its attention to the Capricorn sapphire operation in Queensland, where the major engineering work on the site's processing plant was recently completed ahead of a re-start.