PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Burgundy Diamond Mines has purchased its first third-party rough diamonds as part of its downstream marketing services.

The company in June acquired the capability to cut and polish Fancy Colour diamonds in Perth, allowing for the in-house creation of polished product from its planned operations at the Ellendale diamond project, as well as other potential projects.

The in-house production would be augmented by the purchase of rough diamonds from selected global diamond producers, and the polished product will be branded under a dedicated and exclusive Fancy Colour brand owned by Burgundy.

“We are excited to be able to start so quickly to deliver on our promise to our shareholders and incoming investors from our recent capital raise. We believe there is significant upside value potential in our downstream strategy, and these first beautiful Fancy Yellow diamonds will be at the forefront of demonstrating this potential and leading us towards early cashflow from our newly acquired facilities,” said Burgundy MD and CEO Peter Ravenscroft.

The company participated in an auction held by Arctic Canadian Diamond Company, which owns the Ekati diamond mine in Canada, and was successful in bidding on a targeted small number of large Fancy Vivid and Fancy Intense yellow diamonds.

The rough diamonds have a value of some $1-million, and will now be shipped to Perth to be cut and polished as Burgundy’s first branded diamond product.

“Acquiring rough diamonds from a leading diamond company, such as Arctic, provides direct provenance and ethical sourcing underpinned by the CanadaMark brand, and aligns very closely with our strategy of complete end-to-end transparency on the origin of our polished product,” said Ravenscroft.

“We look forward to being able to expand rapidly on this initial purchase and are already sourcing further supply of third-party stones to cut and polish into a range of carefully branded Fancy Colour diamonds.”