7
06.13
mining news
Canada’s Lucara Diamond Corp, which owns
and operates the new Karowe diamond mine
in Botswana, has provided a revised operat-
ing performance outlook for 2013.
Says William Lamb, President and CEO:
“Lucara has had an exceptional start to 2013
with the recovery of large and exceptional
diamonds resulting in the company’s first
large stone tender achieving gross revenues
of US$24,8 million and the sale of its second
blue stone for US$1,6 million. Lucara contin-
ues its solid operating performance and has
revised its operating cost and production
guidance. The additional cash flows from the
large stone tender will result in the strength-
ening of the company’s balance sheet as it
expects to reduce its debt by meeting all
of its debenture repayment obligations of
US$33,3 million by the end of the year.”
Karowe is projected to process 2,5 Mt and
the company is forecasting diamond sales of
420 000 carats in 2013, an increase of 5 %
Diamcor recovers its first ‘special’ diamond
Diamcor Mining Inc, listed on the TSX-V, has
recovered the first ‘special’ diamond in the
+10,8 carat category from its Krone-Endora
at Venetia project in Limpopo Province. The
recovery of the very good quality 11,23 carat
diamond occurred during recent processing
of material in the +1,0 mm to -12,0 mm size
fraction through the expanded quarrying and
in-field screening operations at the project. In
addition to the recovery of the first diamond
in the ‘special’ category, approximately 2 464
carats have also been recovered from the lim-
ited processing completed, with the largest
non-special diamond being recorded at 8,66
carats in size.
“The recovery of a diamond of this size and
quality further confirms the potential of the
project to produce large quality diamonds,”
commented Dean Taylor, President and CEO
of Diamcor. “To have it occur so quickly based
on the limited processing of material mainly
up to 12,0 mm in size is also very promising.”
The region experienced very heavy rainfall
throughout the first quarter of 2013. These
unusual rain levels had not been recorded
in the area for over 200 years. In addition to
flood damage to roads, fences and proper-
ties in the area, including Krone-Endora,
the excessive rains have proved challeng-
ing for mining operations, resulting in de-
lays and in some cases the suspension of
normal mining operations. At the Krone-En-
dora mine site, stockpiles of larger material
in the +12,0 mm size fractions targeted for
processing in the first quarter could not be
processed effectively through the in-quarry
dry-screening plant – and the processing of
other size material was also greatly limited –
due to these rains.
“While the significant rains delayed our
efforts to advance the project as quickly as
desired and limited our ability to process ma-
terial at levels targeted in the short-term, op-
erations are now returning to normal,” noted
Taylor. “We’re now focusing on ramping up
operations and are excited about the pros-
pect of processing larger size material.”
As previously announced in March 2013,
Diamcor successfully completed the desired
procurement, delivery, construction and in-
stallation of the vast majority of equipment
and infrastructure required to significantly
expand the quarrying and in-field dry-screen-
ing operations at the project. These upgrades
were part of Diamcor’s final preparations in
anticipation of a planned move to 24/7 opera-
tions in the near future, and were completed
as budgeted through the previously an-
nounced US$4,0 million in additional financ-
ing from its long-term strategic alliance part-
ner, Tiffany & Co Canada, a subsidiary of New
York-based Tiffany & Co.
The expanded quarrying and in-field screen-
ing operations are designed to provide signifi-
cant operational cost savings and efficiencies
over the long-term of the project through the
removal of an estimated 60-65 % of fine mate-
rial (-1,0 mm in size) at the quarry through a
dry-screening process. Production capacities
of the expanded facilities are designed to ex-
ceed those of the main processing plant to al-
low for the stockpiling of treated and screened
materials at the main processing plant.
With the fine material removed, screened
material stockpiled at the plant should not be
affected by rains in the future.
Diamcor acquired the Krone-Endora at
Venetia project from De Beers Consolidated
Mines Limited in February 2011. The project
comprises the prospecting rights over the
farms Krone 104 and Endora 66, which rep-
resent a combined surface area of approxi-
mately 5 888 ha directly adjacent to De Beers’
flagship Venetia diamond mine.
from previous guidance. Lucara is forecast-
ing revenues of around US$118 million. Five
sales are planned for the remainder of the
year, excluding the potential for a second
large stone tender with viewings in both Ga-
borone and Antwerp.
The mine’s operating cash costs are ex-
pected to be in the order of US$23 per tonne
treated, in-line with previous guidance.
Waste will be stripped to access ore in
the Centre and South Lobes during the final
half of the year, which will provide access
to deeper ore benches in the North Lobe.
The scheduled strip ratio for the year is 2,2
– which is in line with previous expectations.
Capital expenditures for 2013 are expected
to be approximately US$5 million, an increase
from previous guidance of US$3 million,
which is to fund advanced work on Karowe’s
tailings dam and on securing the mine’s
water resources through the installation of
additional boreholes.
Lucara revises production guidance
