9th Feb 2016 11:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - Firestone Diamonds PLC Tuesday said the development of the Liqhobong diamond mine in Lesotho remains on schedule after the company made "excellent progress" during January.
The miner said the mine was 65% complete at the end of January, and remains on track to begin production in the last quarter of 2016 - in line with Firestone's revised schedule announced in the middle of last year.
Firestone pushed back its schedule for the mine in the middle of last year and was originally hoping to have production going before the end of the first half of 2016, but revised its schedule and warned costs had increased due to "increased overburden and adverse weather conditions".
On Tuesday, it said there is potential the project could be accelerated and begin producing in October at the earliest. Commissioning of the project will begin shortly which will see production slowly ramped up until the end of 2016 into the commercial production phase, with production steadily rising to its optimal level until the end of of 2017.
Firestone, which holds a 75% stake in the mine, is aiming to produce 1.0 million carats a year from the mine by treating 3.6 million tonnes of ore annually over 15 years - but the miner has already sourced some production from the mine under a pilot programme back in 2011 when it produced over 325,000 carats from 1.2 million tonnes of ore.
Firestone has spent ZAR1.30 billion on the project so far, and the total cost of the project is expected to be ZAR2.10 billion - higher than the original estimated cost of ZAR1.85 billion.
Firestone shares were untraded on Tuesday morning, last trading at 17.50 pence per share.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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