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DIAMONDS
28
MODERN MINING
October 2015
A
ccording to Firestone, the critical
path earthworks are complete
and civil, structural, mechani-
cal and electrical construction
works have all begun. The ma-
jor critical path items that include the Residue
Storage Facility (RSF), civils, accommodation
and office complex, bulk power, and the steel,
mechanical, piping and platework erection and
fabrication are all on, or close to, schedule and
within budget. The first steelwork has been as-
sembled and the scheduled delivery of steel to
site has begun. The construction teams are also
reportedly working hard to get ahead of sched-
ule while there is a favourable weather window.
Overall engineering design is 90 % complete,
with only the final control and instrumentation
interface designs outstanding and this work is
progressing on schedule and within budget.
Accordingly, says Firestone, it is confident
that, with the continued co-operation of the
Government of Lesotho in granting the required
specialist skills work permits necessary for the
short term contractors, it currently remains
on target to achieve initial production during
Q4 2016.
Firestone also reports that the grid power
project has been completed on budget and
ahead of schedule and is undergoing the final
commissioning phases, having been connected
to the national grid.
The mine will be an open-pit operation with
mining taking place to a depth of 383 m over
15 years. The ore will be treated in a 3,6 Mt/a
facility using only proven technologies. The
flowsheet incorporates a combination of jaw
and cone crushers; scrubbing and conventional
screening; coarse and fines dense medium
separation; and final concentration by X-ray
fluorescence technology. The design allows for
the recovery of stones of up to 400 carats.
Firestone, which is headed by ex-De Beers
executive Stuart Brown, notes that it has been
working hard over the past year to finalise a
number of specific work streams to further de-
risk and enhance the project. The project’s new
economics are based on detailed additional
Newmine plan
enhances and
derisks the
Liqhobong
project
The raw water dam at
Liqhobong – 100 000 m
3
of
storage capacity complete.
Firestone Diamonds, the AIM-quoted company which
is developing the R2,1 billion Liqhobong diamond mine
in Lesotho, reports that project construction was 49 %
complete, as at the end of September 2015, versus the 50 %
target under the revised timetable, announced in June
2015, and on track for initial production in Q4 2016. It has
also announced that a newmine plan has been completed
which further derisks the project and reconfirms the strong
base case project economics.