TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Emerging South Africa-focused diamond producer Diamcor Mining has recovered the first gem-quality ‘special’ diamond in the +10.8 ct category from its Krone-Endora at Venetia project, in South Africa’s Limpopo province.
The 91.65 ct gem-quality octahedron diamond was found during ongoing commissioning and processing on material in the +1 mm to -26 mm size fraction.
The company said it was in the process of having the diamond assessed by an independent expert for quality and colour characteristics, but expected this to be the most significant diamond recovered to date from the project.
The Krone-Endora at Venetia project is located directly next to the De Beers Venetia diamond mine, about 500 km north north-east of Johannesburg. The Venetia mine is the third-largest diamond mine in the world, and South Africa's largest producer of diamonds, accounting for more than 50% of the country’s yearly output.
“In addition to its overall size, its near-perfect octahedron shape is extremely rare and not typically seen in diamonds of this size,” president and CEO Dean Taylor said.
In early August, Diamcor reported that the final crushing circuit at the main plant was being installed to further increase the effective processing of larger-size material. Once complete, in the coming weeks, the company plans to further advance testing and processing all material up to 45 mm in size.
TSX-V-listed Diamcor earlier this month said it had sold 4 752.95 ct of rough diamonds for $856 119, or an average of $180.12/ct.
The majority of the rough diamonds sold were recovered in conjunction with ongoing testing and commissioning exercises on material in the 1 mm to 12 mm size fractions, as well as the initial processing of material in the larger than 12 mm to 26 mm size fractions.
This compares with the company’s previous two tenders, in November 2012 and July 2013, during which it sold diamonds at an average of $142.71/ct and $133.03/ct respectively.
The company also on Wednesday announced the appointment of Mark Smith as company secretary.