West African Diamonds only 4-6 weeks away from diamond and gold production
mineweb.com
West African Diamonds is only four to six weeks away from realising the initial potential of its diamond and gold projects in Sierra Leone with a tailings retreatment operation.
Author: Rodrick Mukumbira
Posted: Thursday , 29 Nov 2007
WINDHOEK -
AIM-quoted diamond-focused explorer West African Diamonds PLC (Ticker WAD.L, 25.00p a share) has to thank the appointment of Hennie Wessels as Chief Operating Officer and the acquisition of new assets in Sierra Leone for the speed at which the company is transforming into a miner.
In July Wessels replaced Simon Riekert, who had only served for four months. A veteran in the West African mining environment, Wessels had been directly involved as technical director and shareholder in project start-ups and on-site operations management of diamond mining operations in South Africa, Angola, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Sierra Leone for over 17 years.
During the same month, WAD used over 2.5 million ordinary shares to acquire from Fastrack Ltd. A 1.5M ton undersize tailings resource with an estimated grade of 15 carats per hundred tons (cpht) and 0.3 g/t gold and a 1.2M ton oversize tailings resource with an estimated 6 cpht, in a move it said at that time would increase its resource base and expand its near production portfolio.
WAD also acquired a crane, front-end loader, trucks and a fuel tanker, which were used to push forward its 60%-owned Plant 11 dump undersize project, which is in Koidu, Sierra Leone.
The appointment of Wessels and the acquisition has paid off, and the company expects to commence full-scale diamond and gold production within the next four to six weeks.
A pilot gold production has also commenced on Plant 11, where the company is targeting a 7M tonne plus undersize tailings deposit, the company announced Thursday.
Contracts have already been arranged for the sale of both gold and diamonds once full scale production commences. WAD expects output to be about 0.4 gram per tonne gold, worth US$9 a tonne of ore and diamonds worth US$3 a tonne of ore, and full throughput of 150 tons per hour is expected before yearend.
"The acquisition of Fastrack assets in Sierra Leone in July greatly facilitated the development of Plant 11," said Chairman John Teeling. "In addition to equipment, WAD was able to acquire the services of Wessels who is bringing the project on stream."
The company also intends to begin small-scale diamond mining at its 100%-owned Bomboko alluvial deposit in Guinea, where it recently recovered four large stones following a bulk sampling programme, in early 2008.
It will also move forward its 100%-owned Pipe 3 kimberlite project in Sierra Leone, which it describes as a "success story of the year" after increasing the grade of its once uneconomic resource almost fourfold to a target mineable resource of 100,000 tonnes grading up to 19 carats per hundred tons.
Exploration will continue during the year at its Droujba property in Guinea, which is said to contain diamonds in alluvials, kimberlite dykes and pipes.
"We are well on the way toward realising the potential of our assets," said Teeling. |
