Photo by: Reuters
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Kimberley Diamonds has confirmed that mining at its Lerala mine, in Botswana, has been temporarily suspended, but refuted claims that the mine has closed down.
The company said on Monday that mining operations at the mine, conducted by contractor Basil Read, have to date been at rates exceeding the plant’s capacity, resulting in the development of a large ore stockpile.
As a result, Basil Read has been ordered to temporarily suspend openpit mining operations in the K3 kimberlite pipe to allow Lerala to process and reduce the stockpiles to "reasonable" levels.
While Basil Read continues to provide feed from the stockpiles to the run-of-mine and into the plant, the contractor has warned that it will be forced to retrench some employees during the cessation of mining operations.
Kimberley said on Monday that openpit operations could be suspended for three to four months, or until stockpiles were reduced and mining was required to restart.
“This is a cost saving measure while Lerala implements its performance improvement plan and is not anticipated to impact on our expected production levels,” the company said.
The improvement plan was aimed at addressing shortcomings in certain pre-existing elements of the plant, which combined with the highly abrasive character of the internal waste within the kimberlite ore, has impacted the plant’s ability to operate at maximum capacity on a consistent basis.