JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and JSE-listed Rockwell Diamonds has completed the R33.5-million acquisition of the Tirisano mine, which would contribute to ramping up the miner’s production profile, CEO James Campbell said on Tuesday.

The 90 000-m³ a month North West province operation, which has been on care and maintenance for two years, was of strategic importance to Rockwell’s long-term growth objectives, he said, adding that it would enhance the company’s cash flows in the long term.

“The quality and price per carat of the stones recovered at Tirisano during the commissioning and recovery testing phase are encouraging as these exceeded what was achieved by the mine's previous operators,” Campbell explained.

During the next six months, the focus at Tirisano is optimising the mining and plant efficiencies, including the development of long-term solutions for the front end. Work would also continue on the concept designs to increase the plant’s capacity.

Rockwell has established a mining fleet, processing plant and final recovery capacity on site over the past 18 months to progress to commercial production.

Plant modifications were completed in-house, using unused existing plant and machinery, which was redeployed from Rockwell’s Wouterspan and other Northern Cape mines.

Further, official ownership brings with it the assurance that Rockwell would bring Tirisano’s first two production lines into commercial production by the end of the third quarter, which has the potential to create 200-plus jobs in the Ventersdorp region, where the local Mogopa community is the company’s broad-based black economic-empowerment partner.

Final acceptance and release documents were signed on October 7, the company said, with all conditions being met including the mineral property transfer approval and the Industrial Development Corporation’s commitment to consolidate the company’s debt finance with deferred payment terms.

SRK Consulting Africa is working on developing the geotechnical parameters that are being used by openpit mining consultancy, Tacmin Madini, to finalise the optimised mine design and extraction plan.

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