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Gold/Mining/Energy : SOUTHERNERA (t.SUF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gord Bolton who wrote (2584)	3/16/1999 10:54:00 AM
From: VAUGHN	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7235

Hello Gord Along the same lines, of interest of the wire: March 14, 1999 20:40 Ashton sees lower Argyle diamond output Jump to first matched term MELBOURNE, March 15 (Reuters) - Ashton Mining Ltd said on Monday diamond production from its 38 percent owned Argyle mine in Western Australia would fall to about 33 million carats in 1999 from 40.9 mln in 1998. "Our mine plan calls for 33 (million) this year," Ashton new chief executive Douglas Bailey told reporters. The company said production would fall because it was doing expansion work on the AK1 open pit which would restrict access to higher grade zones of ore. The company said it would complete commissioning on its Merlin mine in the Northern Territory in the first quarter of this year and would begin selling Merlin diamonds in April. Ashton earlier reported a net profit of A$11.6 million for calendar 1998, compared with a loss of A$62.02 million in 1997, which included an abnormal loss of A$95.43 million related to asset writedowns. Production from the first river diversion at the Angolan Cuango diamond project, one-third owned by Ashton, would begin before the end of March. Bailey said protecting the workforce and the mine in war-torn Angola was a top priority. Although four workers at Cuango were killed by a band of gunmen in January, the area was away from most of the trouble. He said the company intended to be in Angola for a long time, as long as it was allowed to stay there, in an area which held "very large potential" for hard rock discoveries. Ashton's 48 percent owned Cempaka project in Indonesia is expected to begin trial mining in the first half of this year, with first sales expected in the third quarter. The group expected initial sales revenues from the trial to be around US$6 million to US$8 million a year. At Buffalo Hills in Alberta, Canada, where Ashton has a 61 percent stake, the company is evaluating kimberlites. "The challenge there is to find kimberlites with commercial grades," Bailey said. "But we're very pleased with the number of pipes there that have diamonds in them, and we're very happy with the size of the pipes and their closeness to surface." Regards