Photo by: Reuters
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The board of ASX-listed Kimberley Diamonds has approved the restart of mining activities at the Lerala mine, in Botswana, with some A$14.6-million to be spent on bringing the project into operational readiness.
The miner told shareholders on Monday that a lump sum turnkey contract had now been agreed with South Africa-based Consulmet for the modification of the Lerala plant to enable it to operate more effectively and to allow it to reliably treat some 200 t/h of ore.
Consulmet would be paid some A$9.83-million to undertake the plant modifications, which were scheduled for completion by February 2016.
If the recommissioning programme remained on schedule, Kimberley Diamonds expected first diamond sales to be held in March next year.
The Lerala project has a total resource of 10.3-million tonnes, at an average grade of 31.5 carats per hundred tonnes, equating to some 3.3-million carats.
Once in production, the mine was forecast to have a life of some seven years, treating 1.4-million tonnes of ore a year and producing an average of 357 000 ct/y.