DiamondCorp (LON:DCP) said the conveyor belt at its Lace mine in South Africa had been installed.
The commissioning of the underground system, which can lug around 400 tonnes of ore an hour, will be a ‘game changer’, according to chief executive Paul Loudon.
"Not only does the conveyor belt provide Lace with the ability to increase development rates, the cost of future development will decrease in the absence of the need for trucks for waste hauling as the underground loaders will now empty their buckets directly onto the end of the conveyor belt which keeps getting extended as the development goes deeper,” he explained.
“Until block cave production commences, the use of trucks will be confined to hauling kimberlite from the Upper K4 Block production level to the tipping point on the conveyor belt."
The belt is able to carry double the current capacity of the processing plant, which gives management plenty of headroom to increase underground mining.
Separately, DiamondCorp said it was unaffected by the drought conditions in South Africa.