JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed Diamcor Mining reported earnings revenue of $5.93-million from the sale of 32 627.97 ct of rough diamonds at an average price of $136.89/ct in the financial year ended March 31.

This compared with revenue of $4.47-million earned in the prior financial year from the sale of 24 068.01 ct of diamonds at an average price of $139.74/ct.

The recovery of the rough diamonds was incidental to the ongoing commissioning and testing exercises being performed by the company as it continues to develop its Krone-Endora at Venetia project, in South Africa.

“The average price per carat was in line with company expectations, given that the material being processed as part of the ongoing development exercises was largely limited to lower-grade material in the 1 mm to 15 mm size fractions,” Diamcor said in a statement.

Diamcor indicated that the industry continued to experience price weaknesses in certain categories of rough diamonds during fiscal 2017.  

The company, meanwhile, realised increased operating expenses of $4.79-million for the financial year.

“The increase is attributable to increased operating levels associated with the continued advancement of the project in fiscal 2017.”

During the period, the company continued to focus its efforts on the advancement of the Krone-Endora at Venetia project’s development. 

Delays in the delivery and installation of certain portions of the expansion efforts limited the company's ability to advance the project as desired; however, by the end of the period, most of the planned expansions had been completed.

“Current efforts at the project are now focused on increasing processing tonnages of material in all size fractions through these new facilities, and to achieve sustained run-times and increased tonnage levels over a period sufficient to allow the company to arrive at initial production decisions for the project as soon as practicable,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, during the financial year, the Department of Water and Sanitation granted the project a water use licence to support long-term diamond mining operations.

This allowed the company to complete the installation of four additional boreholes at the project.

As at March 31, the company had completed the design, procurement, installation and commissioning of seven individual boreholes, approximately 20 km of associated underground pipelines, the construction and establishment of large lined fresh water dams, settling dams, and the various pumping stations required to support this combined infrastructure.