PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond production from the Lerala mine, in Botswana, has started, with owner Kimberley Diamonds targeting first sales in June.
The start of processing operations at the Lerala mine followed the start of openpit mining in April this year.
ASX-listed Kimberley told shareholders that despite a delay necessitated primarily by the requirement to explore a potential alluvial deposit in the tailings dam footprint, ore processing at Lerala has now started through the plant and would be ramped-up to full production levels over the next several weeks.
During the ramp-up phase, plant process was being balanced to optimsie recovery efficiency and plant throughput.
Once in full production, the Lerala mine was forecast to have a life of some seven years, treating 1.4-million tonnes of ore a year and producing an average of 357 000 ct/y.