JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Diamcor Mining sold 2 856 ct of rough diamonds, generating $455 227 in revenue, in the quarter ended June 30.

The recovery of these rough diamonds was incidental to the ongoing commissioning and testing exercises performed at the company’s Krone-Endora at Venetia project, in Limpopo, and yielded an average price of $159.38/ct.

An additional 2 050 ct were recovered during the period and were being prepared for sale at upcoming tenders, along with rough diamonds expected to be recovered in the current quarter.

“[Our] focus during the current quarter will now shift to increasing processing volumes and the size fractions of material being processed and a move towards advancing objectives consistent with the recommendations of the updated National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report filed on April 28,” the miner said in a statement.

Operational efforts during the first quarter of the financial year focused on the completion, commissioning and refinement of the upgrades and expansions to the project’s processing plant, which included the installation of a large autonomous mill/wet scrubbing unit to enhance the liberation of all material and the expansion of the treatment plant’s feed bin capacity and conveyor structures to support added processing capacity.

Further work included the installation of nuclear density measurement equipment to increase operational efficiencies and controls associated with the plant’s preconcentrating pans, the installation of expanded tailings storage and automated conveyor loading systems and the installation and calibration of additional weightometer systems on various conveyor structures located throughout the project.

“These upgrades have achieved the desired goals of increasing the liberation of the conglomerated material in all size fractions and enhancing the overall operational efficiency of the treatment plant,” the company noted.

It highlighted that the combined dry screening and treatment plant facilities demonstrated the ability to achieve initially targeted processing levels approaching 100 000 t/m by the end of the period.