Lots of news from Diamondworks
VANCOUVER, June 22 /CNW/ - Bruce Walsham, Chairman, President and CEO of
DiamondWorks Ltd., is pleased to announce that the company has begun
commissioning the new diamond recovery plant at its Yetwene diamond mine in
northeast Angola. The company expects to begin commercial production at
Yetwene, the company's second diamond mine in Angola, by the end of this
month.
The Yetwene concession is one of Angola's largest, unworked alluvial
diamond deposits. Geoventures (Pty) Limited, of South Africa, estimates that
Yetwene contains a resource of approximately 1.8 million carats of high-value
diamonds, based on historical sampling data by Diamang, a former Angolan
mining consortium. The Yetwene plant is located on the east bank of the
Chicapa River, approximately 100 kilometres north of DiamondWorks' Luo mine.
DiamondWorks has now produced more than 65,000 carats from its Luo mine, which
began commercial operations in July 1997.
Mr. Walsham said that the company expects that the Yetwene mine will
produce about 8,500 carats a month (approximately 100,000 carats a year) at an
average value of between US$200 and US$250 a carat. These projections are
based on the size of the new diamond recovery plant, the company's operating
experience at its Luo mine, and sampling and diamond valuation work conducted
at Yetwene by DiamondWorks and by Diamang.
The Yetwene mine was completed on schedule and under budget, at a
construction capital cost of approximately US$9.1 million. The new,
100-tonne-per-hour diamond recovery plant includes a Bateman Van Eck & Lurie
50-tonne-per-hour Dense Media Separation plant and X-ray sortex machine for
final diamond recovery.
''We are delighted that construction of the plant at Yetwene proceeded as
planned. We have an excellent operating team in place at the mine and we
believe that the Yetwene mine will be a steady and substantial producer of gem
diamonds for many years to come. The commencement of operations at the Yetwene
mine is an important milestone in the development of our company. The addition
of production from Yetwene should more than double our production of
high-quality, Angolan alluvial diamonds, and will assist in placing the
company among the world's leading diamond producers.'' Mr. Walsham said.
The current diamond resource at Yetwene is sufficient for more than 10
years of production. Only a small portion of the 550-square-kilometre Yetwene
concession has been explored and DiamondWorks believes there is excellent
potential to add to the estimated diamond resources. The company is planning
to add a second diamond plant at Yetwene in early 1999, to further increase
production levels.
DiamondWorks is the operator of the Yetwene mine and will receive 50% of
the net profits, as well as preferential payback of funds advanced for capital
expenditures. DiamondWorks' joint venture partners are two private Angolan
companies. As is the case at the Luo mine, DiamondWorks will market the
diamonds produced from Yetwene in Antwerp, Belgium, in partnership with
Endiama Selling Corporation, the marketing arm of Endiama, Angola's state
diamond company.
DiamondWorks expects that the combined alluvial production from the Luo
and Yetwene mines will total approximately 180,000 carats a year, placing the
company among the top three or four publicly-listed, diamond-producing
companies in the world. Additional production is expected to come later this
year from planned bulk sampling/test production operations at the company's
Camatchia (Angola), Koidu (Sierra Leone) and Kao (Lesotho) kimberlite pipes.
DiamondWorks also has interests in a number of other mineral properties
in Sierra Leone, Canada, China and Venezuela.
Happy investing,
Andras |
