JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed Rockwell Diamonds has been granted additional mining licences, spanning 50 000 ha, in the Middle Orange River (MOR) region, which would extend its footprint in the region, the company said on Thursday.

The three alluvial properties, which it acquired through a conditional agreement with Bondeo 140, host three projects, including Remhoogte/Holsloot and Bo-Karoo, which were contiguous to Rockwell’s existing properties in the MOR region.

These properties have produced more than 7 300 ct of high-quality diamonds – at a sample grade of some 0.8 ct per hundred cubic metres (cphm³) valued at between $3 000/ct and $4 000/ct.

The company added that the properties had the potential to increase its portfolio by 11-million cubic meters to 12-million cubic meters of gravel, at target grades of 0.4 cphm3 to 1.5 cphm³.

In addition, the transaction was expected to increase the company’s existing processing capacity in the MOR by almost 200 000 m³ a month.

“We are confident that we have delivered a value-accretive acquisition, which will be a foundation to further Rockwell’s MOR growth strategy,” Rockwell CEO and president James Campbell said.

Further, [the properties] are early life mines with exploration upside potential, comprising three recently commissioned processing plants that included bulk X-ray technology at Remhoogte.

A second rotary pan plant at Remhoogte, comprising four pans, was commissioned on the property in November. At Holsloot, a processing plant was commissioned from new equipment and consisted of a desanding system, a Bourevestnik bulk X-ray system for the processing of coarse gravels and a dense media separation system for fine gravels.

“Along with our own planned rationalisation and expansion projects and the recently granted mining and exploration rights, we expect that this transaction will allow us to grow our production target to materially above the magic 500 000 m³ a month – the minimum rate at which one overcomes the variances that are inherent in mining alluvial diamond deposits and which lead to swings in quarterly operating results associated with the industry,” Campbell enthused.

In addition to the projects and their processing plants, Rockwell would acquire a portion of Bondeo and its affiliates’ fleet of earthmoving vehicles (EMV) that matched the company’s MOR mines’ operational requirements.

“This EMV equipment is relatively new and has a low number of operating hours, which meets the specifications of the fleet optimisation strategy determined by Rockwell in 2014,” the company stated.

Additional required equipment would be sourced on similar terms to the existing fleet leased through Eqstra Holdings. Rockwell was reviewing its EMV fleet arrangements across the MOR to fully standardise its fleet, including its inventory requirements, spares and supplies, as well as mining practises across all operations with a single fleet management team to achieve full economies of scale and related purchasing power and supply line efficiencies.

After closing the transaction, and as part of the integration process, Rockwell plans to transition the Remhoogte/Holsloot EMV fleet to Rockwell’s standard operating practices.