Petra Diamonds has said total production at its Williamson Mine is
expected to increase to 2.5 tonnes per annum next year before climbing
to 3.6 tonnes annually by 2016.
This increase (excluding alluvials) follows the rebuilding of the
existing plant, major pit reshaping works, which were completed and
started production this quarter, the company said in a statement.
The statement shows that contract mining of alluvial, made up
of materials that are left by tailings, is planned to contribute 14,000
carats in the next year with production levels thereafter to be
reviewed annually.
Tonnes treated will exceed ore mined year 2013 to 2016 further to the
processing of the run of mine (ROM) stockpile— estimated to be 700,000
tonnes and to contain 40,000 carats established after pit-shaping
operations.
The company, which has several diamond mines in South Africa, said
for the brief operating period in this financial year, the mine
contributed 42,855 carats from the main pit at a grade of 5.2 carats per
hundred tonnes of ore (cpht).
“Although the initial ROM grade is lower than management’s
expectations (6.0 cpht), the overall quality of the production observed
to date was encouraging,” Petra said.
The re-crush circuit in the plant
will be commissioned in the second quarter of next year and it is
anticipated that along with other continual improvements on plant
efficiency, will lead to an improvement in ROM grade.
Meanwhile total production at the mine went up by 93 per cent to
57,050 carats during the financial year 2012 when compared to the
previous year’s 29,510 carats.
Of the total output, 14,195 carats came
from contract alluvial operations while the remaining 42,855 carats
emanated from its Kimberlite operations.
During the year under review, Petra said the Williamson Mine recorded
revenue of 11.6 million US dollars after selling 49,153 carats during
the period under review from 9.5 million US dollars a year earlier. Some
31,555 carats were sold in 2011.
The diamonds were sold at an average price of 236 US dollars per
carat down 22 per cent from 302 US dollars realised a year earlier.
Williamson Mine at Mwadui in Shinyanga is the world’s largest economic
Kimberlite by surface area. It contains a major diamond resource of
approximately 39 million carats. The mine life span is estimated at 50
years.
Source: The Daily News, http://www.dailynews.co.tz,reported by Abduel Elinaza in Dar es Salaam
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