JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Advisory firm Deloitte has invited investors to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) in respect of DiamondCorp’s Lace diamond mine (LDM), in the Free State.
The mine was placed in business rescue on November 15, after a flood halted operations.
Business rescue practitioner (BRP) Daniel Terblanche noted that, to explore all the options available to take LDM out of business rescue, Deloitte is seeking a strategic investor who can provide the working capital required to restart operations. “[This will result in] employees [being] redeployed, and an improved return to creditors over liquidation can be obtained,” he said.
LDM, which has estimated reserves of 9.4-million carats, with an upper level of volcanoclistic kimberlite and deeper coherent kimberlite facies is a site with rich reserves that are hard to come by.
DiamondCorp has built a 1.2-million-tonne-a-year diamond recovery plant which has the capacity to treat ore for the 25-year expected mine life.
The closing date for the submission of EOIs is February 17.
Terblanche added that EOIs would be followed by a formal correspondence from the BRP, setting out the requirements for participation in the process.
Interested parties must sign a confidentiality agreement and pay a fee of R10 000.