Modern Mining February 2018

MINING News

View of the Liqhobong plant. The mine is located in the highlands of Lesotho (photo: Firestone).

Solid production by Liqhobong

same time offering optionality of taking advantage of the longer life of mine should the average diamond values increase or should there be an improvement in mar- ket conditions. The revised plan is over a shorter nine-year period and involves the strip- ping of 76,0 million fewer waste tonnes. According to Firestone, a far more rep- resentative area of the pit will be mined over the next 18 months, which should improve the likelihood of recovering higher quality stones and, in turn, provide a truer representation of diamond quality and pricing than has been possible from production to date.  JORC resource – were observed during a site visit to Mothae by Lucapa representatives, advisors, brokers and investors following the Mining Indaba in Cape Town. The larg- est of the diamonds recovered in the first test run was 6,6 carats. The BSP is designed to provide addi- tional resource and diamond data to expand the life of mine, while also generat- ing early cash flows. Construction of the new 150 t/h processing plant, including an XRT large- diamond recovery circuit, continues and remains on schedule for full commissioning and commercial production in H2 2018. 

AIM-listed Firestone Diamonds reports that its new Liqhobong mine in Lesotho treated 963 213 tonnes of ore, which was just ahead of budget, during the quarter ended 31 December 2017 (Q2 of Firestone’s financial year), which resulted in the recovery of 180 709 carats, which was slightly lower than the figure for Q1. The overall grade was 18,8 cpht. Costs reduced to US$11,60 per tonne treated despite adverse exchange rate move- ments. A total of 156 942 carats was sold in the quarter, realising US$12,5 million at an average of US$80 per carat (Q1: US$69 per carat). The mine’s zero lost time injury record was maintained during the quarter with over 5,3 million man hours having now been worked since project commence- ment in July 2014. “Mine production for the quarter has been very solid, with yet another quarter- on-quarter increase in tonnes treated since the mine was commissioned,” comments Stuart Brown, CEO of Firestone. “The aver- age value per carat achieved improved on the previous quarter, while the sale held in December was stronger than the first sale earlier in the period. There is cautious optimism on diamond pricing in 2018 after positive initial year-end retail numbers out of the US and China.

“Despite the recovery of fewer carats in the period, grades are expected to improve in the second half as mining moves to higher grade areas of the pit.” During the quarter, 80 special stones (plus 10,8 carats) were recovered com- pared to 45 in Q1. This was pleasing, says Firestone, although, overall, the aver- age quality remained somewhat below expectation. Firestone recently announced a revised mine plan for Liqhobong. The objective of the plan is to deliver the best returns in the medium term at low risk whilst at the

First diamonds recovered at Mothae project Lucapa Diamond Company, listed on the ASX, has reported the first diamond recover- ies fromMothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho. Lucapa has a 70 % stake in the mine with the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho holding the balance.

The diamonds were recovered through the existing bulk sampling plant and infrastructure at Mothae, which has been refurbished ahead of schedule, as part of the previously announced bulk sampling programme (BSP). The initial diamond recoveries – sourced from residual material and kimberlite stock- piles that are not included in the Mothae

February 2018  MODERN MINING  13