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August 2016
MODERN MINING
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MINING News
Reporting on Q4 2016 (to 30 June 2016),
Australia’s Kimberley Diamonds Ltd (KDL)
says that this was the first period in which
processing operations were undertaken at
its newly recommissioned Lerala diamond
mine in Botswana. During the quarter,
70 589 tonnes of ore were processed, with
10 564,11 carats recovered.
The first sale of diamonds from Lerala
was undertaken on 28 June 2016. A small
parcel of diamonds which was sourced
predominantly fromhistoric pre-2016 ROM
stockpiles was sent to Antwerp for auction.
The diamonds were sold at an average
price of US$98 per carat, with 1 110,18 car-
ats sold for total revenue of US$108 650.
The Lerala mine comprises a cluster
of five diamond-bearing kimberlite vol-
canic pipes, designated K2 to K6, and a
processing plant with a nominal capacity
of 200 t/h. The mine was opened in 2008
but was subsequently placed on care and
maintenance.
Following its acquisition of Lerala
in 2014 from Mantle Diamonds, KDL’s
Botswana subsidiary, Lerala Diamond
Mi ne s L imi ted ( Le ra l a ) , engaged
Consulmet to redesign sections of the
processing plant to facilitate improved dia-
mond recovery and throughput reliability.
Open-pit mining by the mining con-
tractor, Basil Read Botswana, began in
early April 2016 in the K3 kimberlite pipe.
During the quarter, Basil Read hauled
44 000 tonnes of stockpiled ore to the ROM
pad, mined and hauled 191 000 tonnes of
ore to the ROM pad and hauled 148 000
tonnes of low grade ore to the low grade
stockpile area.
According to Kimberley Diamonds,
mining operations have proved more than
capable of sustaining a consistent feed
Garnet separation plant commissioned
ASX-listed Mineral Commodities Ltd (MRC)
reports that its South African subsidiary,
Minerals Sands Resources (SA) Pty Ltd
(MSR), has completed the installation and
commissioning of the Garnet Separation
Plant (GSP) at its Torminmineral sands mine,
located on South Africa’s west coast 400 km
north of Cape Town.
The GSP has been installed at the front
of the existing Secondary Concentrate Plant
(SCP). It is expected to increase the non-mag-
netic zircon/rutile feed grade to the SCP by
removing the garnet fraction from the Heavy
Minerals Concentrate prior to the SCP. This, in
turn, will allow a higher grade non-magnetic
concentrate tobe fed to the existingmagnetic
circuit, thereby increasing overall final zircon/
rutile concentrate production.
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to the processing plant as it continues to
ramp up production.
Commissioning of the processing plant
commenced early in the quarter, and pro-
duction began immediately thereafter.
However, the ramp up of the plant has
Botswana’s Lerala diamond mine back in business
Kimberlite ore from the primary crusher at Lerala being fed into the new primary scrubber (photo:
Kimberley Diamonds).
been slower than anticipated as a number
of constraints to the process flow and effi-
ciency of the plant have been identified.
These are being systematically rectified
and this work will continue into the first
quarter of 2017.