JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – London-listed Richland Resources has delivered 156 000 ct in the three months to September 30 as part of the production start-up and ramp-up process at its Capricorn sapphire operation, in Australia, mining and processing 21 628 t of sapphire-bearing alluvials over the three months, it said on Monday.
The company’s economical cutoff size was set at 4 mm, with smaller material being stockpiled for future sorting and grading and current cash costs estimated at less than $3/ct.
Richland concluded its first sapphire parcel sale in September, offloading 1 200 ct at $14.30/ct.
“I’m pleased with the progress achieved in the third quarter, with over 150 000 ct produced, of which more than half was produced in September following extensive work and modifications to the processing plant.
“We also achieved our first sapphire parcel sale. It should be noted that the parcel sold during late September at $14.3/ct was a customer-specific parcel and does not represent run-of-mine material,” commented CEO Bernard Olivier.
Elaborating on post-period events, he added that the company had set a fourth-quarter production target of 250 000 ct, with size and colour sorting, as well as the quality grading of the material mined during third quarter, currently being completed in preparation for a larger and ongoing parcel sales process.
“Our sales strategy currently focuses on customer-specific parcels to ensure that we get as many downstream commitments and market penetration as possible,” Olivier concluded.