Diamcor Mining realized $1,4 million in revenue from its Krone-Endora at Venetia project during the third quarter ended December 31, a slight increase when juxtaposed to $1,39 million, a year earlier.
“Sales increased during the current quarter when compared to the previous quarter despite limited processing volumes being achieved due to contract equipment reliability issues,” it said. “Extensive work during the quarter continued on further refinements to the project’s processing facilities by the new operational team, and on the replacement of previous contract equipment with new larger equipment from Caterpillar to enhance both reliability and processing volumes.”
Image credit: Diamcor
Diamcor realised a price per carat of $106, against an average price per carat of $194 in the same period in 2018.
It said the significantly lower average dollar per carat recorded during the current period was expected and a direct result of the short-term processing of tailings material to support the evaluation efforts being undertaken by the project’s new operational team to improve plant and final recovery efficiencies.
“Despite this short-term reduction in the average dollar per carat achieved, the refinement efforts and processing of tailings were nearing completion by the end of the quarter, and the company expects the average dollar per carat to return to historical norms early in 2020,” said Diamcor.
“Additional increases in the average dollar per carat due to the number of larger gem quality rough diamonds recovered or rough diamond market pricing improvement, both remain relevant over the longer-term.”
Meanwhile, the company said the project had demonstrated significant potential with regard to rough diamond quality, as well as the recovery of larger diamonds in the 10.8 carat plus special category.
The recovery of all rough diamonds to date, were incidental to the ongoing commissioning and testing and trial mining exercises.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
“Despite this short-term reduction in the average dollar per carat achieved, the refinement efforts and processing of tailings were nearing completion by the end of the quarter, and the company expects the average dollar per carat to return to historical norms early in 2020,” said Diamcor.
“Additional increases in the average dollar per carat due to the number of larger gem quality rough diamonds recovered or rough diamond market pricing improvement, both remain relevant over the longer-term.”
Meanwhile, the company said the project had demonstrated significant potential with regard to rough diamond quality, as well as the recovery of larger diamonds in the 10.8 carat plus special category.
The recovery of all rough diamonds to date, were incidental to the ongoing commissioning and testing and trial mining exercises.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
