JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed diamond mining and development company DiamondCorp has bought additional mining equipment after reporting earlier this month that it was experiencing operational issues relating to the breakdown of its existing equipment fleet at the Lace diamond mine.

It has acquired an additional four Sandvik 20 t underground dump trucks, two Sandvik 7 t underground loaders and two Sandvik single boom drill rigs.

Three of the 20 t trucks had already been delivered to site but would require some refurbishment before entering service.

The fourth 20 t truck, the loaders and the drill rigs were nearly new and had been acquired from another operation that had closed owing to low commodity prices. These would be delivered to the site within the next week and would enter service immediately.

“While representing an unplanned additional expenditure of about $1-million, the total cost of the eight vehicles, including refurbishment of the three dump trucks, is about one-quarter of the price of new units at current exchange rates.

“These vehicles will allow the company to achieve tonnage ramp up to deliver 30 000 t/m of kimberlite from the Upper K4 Block to the conveyor belt from July onwards. Taking into account the increase in bottom screen size in the plant from 1 mm to 1.25 mm, this production will put the company on schedule to produce in excess of 75 000 ct from kimberlite in 2016 and in excess of 125 000 ct in 2017,” DiamondCorp said in a statement on Tuesday.

The company, meanwhile, also reported that a 22.1 ct H-coloured diamond that had been sold to its beneficiation joint venture in January had been manufactured into two high-quality diamonds of 7.2 ct and 0.9 ct respectively and sold for a combined $261 361.

DiamondCorp's 50% share of the profit on the sale of the two polished diamonds was $71 979.
 
“This is an early indication of the significant additional value which can be created through beneficiating special and exceptional quality diamonds from Lace and gives management insight into how the stones perform when they are cut and polished.

“To date, all the Lace diamonds which we have beneficiated have improved in colour, which is critical knowledge to have for optimising the marketing of our production,” commented CEO Paul Loudon.