Modern Mining January 2016

DIAMONDS

and ‘switch-over’ challenges which are typi- cally associated with projects of this nature but these are known to us and have been properly planned for,” he says. “We do not anticipate any impact on day-to-day operations or throughput at Cullinan while the new plant is being con- structed as it is being built separately to the existing plant.” The new processing plant is not the only new investment underway at Cullinan. Petra is also currently busy establishing a new block cave (C-Cut Phase 1) on the western side of the orebody in the upper portion of the major C-Cut resource (estimated to contain some 133 Mct in total). The project is reportedly progressing well, with the first rings in the undercut hav- ing been blasted in June 2015, the deepening of the men-and-material shaft completed and the deepening of the ore shaft on track for com- missioning during H1 FY 2017 (i.e. July to December 2016). The C-Cut project, together with a large tailings operation being developed, will take annual production at the mine from 0,7 Mct in FY 2015 to around 2,4 Mct by FY 2019, with 2,2 Mct being derived from ROM and the

balance from tailings. Petra’s current mine plan extends to 2030 but major residual resources indicate that mine life could be in excess of 50 years. Whatever the case, the new plant will ensure that Cullinan’s needs are catered for in terms of processing through to the end of its life. Photos courtesy of Petra Diamonds

Early stage of construction on the recycle silo.

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January 2016  MODERN MINING  45