DiamondCorp (LON:DCP, JSE:DMC) said the decline development at the Lace mine in South Africa is on track and it is nearly ready to start a drilling programme at Jwaneng in Botswana on the first of two diamondiferous kimberlite pipes which were intersected there during drilling last year.
The decline development at Lace near Kroonstad in South Africa’s Free State province is on schedule and within the £5 million budget to access the main kimberlite pipe at the -260m level in March, despite flooding rainfall over the project area in recent weeks posing challenges for waste haulage and dewatering, the group said in an operational update.
The 1.2 million tonnes per annum dense media separation plant at Lace has been successfully recommissioned with feed from tailings in readiness for processing of fresh kimberlite.
During February, the company plans to tender 1,328 carats of diamonds in Johannesburg which were recovered during plant recommissioning, to determine the current market price for Lace tailings diamonds.
In preparation for processing the initial 30,000 tonne bulk sample of kimberlite from the -260m level, the 1.2 million tonne per annum dense media separation plant at Lace has been recommissioned with feed from the kimberlite tailings left from mining activities which took place between 1900 and 1930.
DiamondCorp CEO Paul Loudon said: “It is exciting for shareholders that our team continues to successfully overcome the technical challenges of opening up an old kimberlite mine that has been under water for more than 75 years.
“We are now weeks away from accessing the top level of the estimated 33 million tonnes of kimberlite remaining below any of the old working areas at Lace. At the same time, world diamond prices have recovered to levels higher than before the crash of 2008, and the long term metrics for the industry remain very strong.”
In Botswana, preparations are being finalised for the commencement of a large diameter drilling programme in Prospecting Licence PL/71 near Jwaneng in the Southeast on the first of two diamondiferous kimberlite pipes which were intersected during drilling in 2010. The first pipe to be tested will be J-05, a 1.5ha kimberlite under approximately 28 metres of Kalahari sand.
DiamondCorp is earning a 77.5 percent interest in PL/71 from Botswana company Geoperspectives (Pty) Ltd by funding exploration activities.