Dogger, I picked this out of "The Namibian", the local newspaper for Namibia. It shows progress, more equipment being installed on the vessel, and production on target for a few more months hence....
Wayne
Plans on course says Namco
TABBY MOYO
NAMCO'S plans to start diamond production later this year
are on course, a company spokesperson told The Namibian
Wednesday.
Namco, recently granted a 15 year mining licence for the
Koichab area of its Luderitz Bay Grant, estimates production
will be 150 000 carats of diamonds valued at about N$135
million in its first year.
Megan Williams told The Namibian from Pretoria that the
company's 92 metre long mining vessel, code-named
Kovambo after Namibia's First Lady, had arrived in Cape
Town after being modified in Germany.
The vessel is being chartered for a renewable five-year
period.
It is currently being fitted with a 50 tonnes per hour
processing plant after which it will depart for the United
Kingdom to be fitted with the mining system known as
NAMSSOL, a 100 tonne seabed crawler.
The NAMSSOL is designed to recover 150 000 carats in the
first year of production and is described as one of the most
sophisticated mining systems ever put to work off the west
coast of Africa.
The Kovambo will undergo trial testing in the North Sea
soon after the NAMSSOL was fitted, Williams said. Namco
estimates it will invest N$68 million in rehabilitating the vessel for its Namibian operations.
The company is also considering setting up a diamond
cutting and polishing factory in Namibia.
At present Namco is conducting ongoing research and
development into the most technically suitable and low cost
exploration tool for its marine concessions.
Recently Namco chairman Alastair Holberton said Namibia's
total diamond production could increase by more than 500
000 carats a year primarily due to offshore production in
which the company would be involved from the fourth
quarter of the year.
Namco has also announced that it was extending its
diamond recovery activities to Angola and Zaire, both of
which boast major diamond deposits.
August 28, 1997 |
