Diamcor Mining has completed the previously announced processing of tailings material at the Company’s Krone-Endora at Venetia project (the “Project”), and that mining operations using a new larger fleet of Caterpillar heavy equipment has begun. The new equipment is aimed at providing the Project with improved reliability, lower operating costs, and to support the Company’s planned increases in processing volumes moving forward. The equipment is comprised of a full compliment of large excavator models, articulated dump trucks (ADT’s), front end loaders, bulldozers, and various other smaller support equipment. Additional provisions are also underway to increase the size of the Project’s standby power capacities by replacing the Project’s two smaller generators with one larger, more efficient unit from Caterpillar to minimize shortfalls in power supply and processing downtime for the long-term.
“We are confident the new equipment fleet will enhance the Project’s advancement in all areas, and enable us to better achieve our stated goals, and increase processing volumes in a meaningful way moving forward”, commented Diamcor CEO Mr. Dean Taylor. “While the processing of tailings delivered a lower dollar per carat average than what we would typically see historically, it served a valuable purpose of validating our new operating plan to remediate past deficiencies and reduce operating costs through assessing and implementing the ideal field equipment for the long term”.
As of the date of this release, the Company had finalized the delivery of approximately 4,500 carats of rough diamonds from the conclusion of the tailings processing efforts for tender and sale in the coming weeks. Rough diamonds recovered and delivered for tender and sale moving forward will again be from quarrying and trial mining exercises using the new equipment and are expected to better mirror historical results in terms of size frequency distribution and the average dollar per carat values achieved. Additional focus moving forward is also being placed on the processing of the larger material previously stockpiled during the development of the Project’s In-Field Screening plant, and an increase in the volume of this material being introduced through the large diamond recovery circuit.
