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DiamondCorp starts commissioning conveyor belt at Lace

23rd October 2015

By: Natasha Odendaal

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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JSE-listed DiamondCorp has started commissioning its newly installed 400 t/h underground conveyor belt, ahead of the ramp-up in production from the Upper K4 (UK4) mining block at the Lace diamond mine, in the Free State.

The Southern Africa-focused diamond mining, development and exploration company aims to complete commissioning by the end of October in what DiamondCorp CEO Paul Loudon describes as a significant milestone in the construction of the Lace mine.

The new conveyor belt will replace the company’s fleet of dump trucks for the hauling of future kimberlite and development waste mined at Lace, which will reduce the cost per ton to load and haul rock.

The dump trucks will still be used to transport the kimberlite from the UK4 production level to the conveyor belt at a planned rate of up to 30 000 t a month.

“While mining of the UK4 progresses, the conveyor belt will be progressively extended down to the first block cave level. Development waste from the deeper levels will be loaded directly onto the conveyor belt by underground loaders without the use of trucks,” DiamondCorp says.

The company procured a conveyor belt with double the capacity of the current front-end capacity of the processing plant to ensure it could continue to transport sufficient ore to surface to enable a future increase of the underground mining rate.

Investec comments that it expects to see imminent cash flows, with the Lace mine set to ramp up now that the conveyor belt is in place.

“We also hope to see success at reducing water consumption that could support increased production, thereby adding value,” it adds.


Meanwhile, DiamondCorp has placed the sale of 4 250 ct of recovered diamonds on hold, owing to the weaker prices attracted for diamond parcels of less than 10 000 ct and the fewer recoveries on the back of the slower-than- scheduled development rate in the UK4.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Online Managing Editor

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