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MODERN MINING
February 2017
MINING News
The Government of the Kingdom of
Lesotho (GOL) has awarded the advanced
Mothae kimberlite project to ASX-listed
Lucapa Diamond Company following a
competitive international tender process.
Mothae has a NI143-101 indicated and
inferred resource of 1 million carats.
The agreements signed by the GOL and
Lucapa will see Lucapa acquiring a 70 %
interest in the project. The acquisition
price is US$9 million (which compares with
historical development spending on the
project of approximately US$36 million).
Infrastructure and facilities at Mothae
include accommodation and site offices,
workshops, a processing plant, a tailings
storage facility, fresh water dams and
diesel-generated power.
Lucapa’s Managing Director, Stephen
Wetherall, said he was delighted that
Lucapa’s proposal to acquire and develop
the highly sought-after Mothae project
had been selected as the successful bid by
the GOL.
“This acquisition is in keeping with
Lucapa’s stated strategy of continued
growth as a diamond producer and
explorer. Mothae complements the pro-
ducing high-value Lulo diamond mine and
our highly prospective exploration assets
Lucapa’s bid for Mothae proves successful
The Mothae diamond project in Lesotho.
in the advanced Lulo kimberlite project
and the earlier stage Brooking and Orapa
Area F projects.
“There is only one thing better than
owning one diamond mine that pro-
duces large high value diamonds – and
that is owning two. Mothae is a fantas-
tic diamond asset, located in a cluster of
operating diamond mines in Lesotho and
just 5 km from Gem Diamonds’ Letšeng
mine, which is the highest average dol-
lar per carat hard rock diamond mine in
the world. Similar to Lulo in Angola, the
Mothae kimberlite pipe hosts large pre-
mium-value and Type IIa diamonds.”
Wetherall further stated that Lucapa’s
widespread diamond mining experience
and recent success in developing the Lulo
mine – which delivered the highest price
per carat run of mine diamond production
in the world in 2016 – were key factors in
its successful bid for Mothae.
The Mothae diamond resource is
supported by extensive trial mining,
drilling programmes and geological mod-
elling conducted between 2008 and 2012.
During this time, 31 bulk samples totalling
603 000 tonnes were extracted and pro-
cessed from various locations and depths
in three phases.
From these samples, a total of 23 446
carats of diamonds was recovered at
an average grade of 3,88 carats per 100
tonnes (cpht) using a bottom cut-off size of
-2 mm. The diamonds recovered included
96 stones weighing more than 10 carats.
The gem-quality Mothae diamonds were
Avesoro Resources provides guidance for 2017
Avesoro Resources Inc (previously Aureus
Mining), the TSX- and AIM-listed West
African gold producer, has announced
annual production guidance for 2017 of
90 000 to 100 000 ounces of gold at a cash
cost of US$750 to US$800 per ounce of
gold produced and an all-in sustaining cost
(AISC) of US$925 to US$975 per ounce of
gold produced from its New Liberty Gold
Mine in Liberia.
Capital expenditure in 2017 is forecast
to be approximately US$24 million, com-
prising US$10 million of non-sustaining
capital allocated to enhance operations and
US$14 million of sustaining capital, a signifi-
cant portion of which is non-recurring and
relates to expenditure deferred from previ-
ous years. Exploration spend throughout
2017 is forecast to total US$5 million and be
focused upon discovering additional mine-
able near mine satellite deposits.
Commenting, Serhan Umurhan, Chief
Executive Officer of Avesoro Resources,
said: “In 2017 we aim to continue ongoing
optimisation of the processing and mining
operations and to also improve the produc-
tion profile at New Liberty whilst reducing
the cost of production. We remain commit-
ted to our disciplined approach to capital
allocation, and enhancing the mine life of
New Liberty through a near mine explora-
tion programme that will commence during
Q1 2017 and will be focused on finding
additional mineable satellite deposits.”