Name and Location
Lace diamond mine development project, Free State, South Africa.

Client
Lace Diamond Mines (LDM), a 74% subsidiary of DiamondCorp.

Project Description
The 1.2-million-tonne-a-year Lace mine is expected to produce more than 500 000 ct/y of diamonds at peak production.

The Main pipe contains 33.1-million tons of kimberlite, indicated and inferred to a depth of 855 m, containing an estimated 13.4-million carats in both resource categories at an average grade of 40.1 ct per hundred tonnes (cpht).

The resource has an in situ value of more than $2-billion at $160/ct.

The deposit will be mined using block-cave mining, with three caves planned over the 25-year life-of-mine (LoM) on the 47, 67 and 85 levels at depths of 470 m, 670 m and 850 m respectively.

The kimberlite is open at depth, with a significant bulge between 250 m and 360 m. The kimberlite can potentially add additional tonnage and diamonds not currently included in the resource statement.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Value
The total development cost of the project, including working capital and a 15% contingency on capital and development costs, is estimated at R384-million.

Duration
The Lace mine is due to start production in the second half of 2015.

Latest Developments
DiamondCorp has started production ramp-up from the Upper K4 Block (UK4) of its Lace diamond mine.

The first UK4 production will be recovered from the 310-m level, where the slot is being opened to the drive vertically above it on the 290-m level.

Once the slot is mined by the end of the first quarter of 2016 and all trough tunnels are completed during the second quarter of 2016, long-hole ring blasting for production troughs will start.

UK4 production from January to the end of March is scheduled to average 4 000 t/m, increasing to an average of 15 000 t/m between April and June, before reaching full production of 30 000 t/m from July 2016 onwards.

“Production to date has come from access development and tailings retreatment; from now on, production will be dominated by mining development, stoping and block caving,” CEO Paul Loudon has said.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
The mine’s ramp-up is expected to start six months ahead of the original schedule.

Contact Details for Project Information
DiamondCorp, tel +44 20 3151 0970, fax +44 20 3151 0971 or email info@diamondcorp.plc.uk