Petra resumes full production at Tanzania diamond mine

Petra Diamonds has resumed full production at its Williamson mine, in Tanzania after spending $65 million on a rehabilitation programme, which included reshaping the open pit and a major rebuild of the existing plant at the mine.
The mine was acquired from De Beers in February 2009 for $10 million.
“Production commenced in March and April,” Petra’s spokesperson Cathy Malins was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.
She declined to give a forecast for future production at the mine.
However, Tanzania’s Mines Ministry said recently that it expects the country’s diamond production to increase to about 150,000 carats this year from 28,377 carats last year following the expansion of Williamson.
The country’s diamond output also fell from 80,498 carats in 2010 due to the rehabilitation work at the mine.
Malins said the company was reviewing the second phase of its expansion programmne.
The Mwadui kimberlite pipe, upon which the Williamson mine was based, contained a diamond resource of about 40 million carats.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished