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New diamond mines, diamonds selling well, De Beers’ wage deal

24th October 2014

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

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Canada’s diamond output could more than double in the next four years as a result of the construction of the Gahcho Kué and Renard projects. Read on page 20 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the two new mines expected to increase Canada’s global market share to 25.2% by value and 15.1% by volume by 2018, giving the North American country the highest compound yearly production growth among the world’s top eight producing countries. Also expected in Canada is additional diamond production from the Misery pipe at the Ekati mine. In South Africa, the Lace mine is expected to begin producing from late next year. In Russia, the Botuobinskaya mine is nearing completion, the Grib mine began producing earlier this year and the Karpinskogo mine produced its first gems this month. In India, the Bunder project could be in production by 2017. While these mines are on the rise, the large Orapa and Jwaneng mines, in Botswana, are expected to begin dipping below current production parameters in fewer than 15 years and mining at the Marange fields in Zimbabwe is expected to become less prolific and more costly.

South Africa-focused alluvial diamond mining company Rockwell Diamonds reports that diamonds are selling well in a stabilising market that is no longer prone to wild swings. Read on page 8 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the company foreseeing firm future diamond pricing buoyed by expected undersupply. Rockwell is increasing output at its Saxendrift, Saxendrift Hill and Niewejaarskraal operations and looking to phasing in the building of a new mine – Wouterspan. The company employs just under 1 000 full-time employees and contractors and moves more than a million tons a month taking in the Tirisano diamond operation, where an application has been accepted for a sixth royalty agreement. After a positive second-quarter performance, Rockwell sees itself as being well placed in the current quarter as it is mining higher-grade areas and obtained a better level of confidence in its plant efficiencies. To watch a video in which Rockwell Diamonds CEO James Campbell tells Mining Weekly of the company’s nine consecutive quarters of revenue growth, scan the barcode on page 8 with your phone’s QR reader, or go to Video Reports at www.miningweekly.com.

Following the clinching of three-year wage agreements at the Debswana diamond operations, in Botswana, and at the Namdeb venture, in Namibia, De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) also managed to clinch a three-year deal in more challenging South Africa. Read on page 8 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the agreement, which extends to 2016, being the first DBCM has managed to secure with South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers. DBCM, which runs the Venetia diamond mine, in Limpopo province, and the Voorspoed diamond mine, in the Free State, and has employees at De Beers Sightholder Sales South Africa in Kimberley, where sorting, valuing and diamond value-adding initiatives are under way, has agreed a 9% increase, backdated to May 1, 2014, and the same percentage increases for 2015 and 2016, plus home subsidisation.

To watch Creamer Media's latest video reports, click here
 

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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