JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Commissioning activities at Aim-listed Southern African diamond miner Firestone Diamonds’ Liqhobong mine, in Lesotho, are largely complete and final ramp-up of the Lesotho plant is progressing as planned.

“The final commissioning phase has seen the mine achieve nameplate capacity on numerous occasions, which is very positive, particularly during the rainy season.

“The company remains on track to complete the ramp-up phase in the coming months,” CEO Stuart Brown said in a quarterly update on Wednesday.

Owing to the company's focus on implementing the final modifications to the plant in the quarter, it expects to have recovered about 300 000 ct by financial year-end.

“While this is below the lower end of previous estimates, the company is very pleased with the increasing grade and recovery rates, which puts Liqhobong in a strong position ahead of processing the better-quality ore expected in the coming months,” he said.

During the quarter to March 31, the company completed its first two diamond sales in Antwerp, Belgium. These yielded an average price of $107/ct, while the company has achieved an average grade of 16.1 carats per hundred tons (cpht) and is managing to contain costs at $12/t treated, which is at the bottom end of its market guidance.

Further, scheduled plant commissioning modifications carried out during the quarter resulted in a higher grade of 20.1 cpht achieved in March, and the grade is expected to continue to rise following the implemented plant modifications and the mining of higher grade ore in the main pit in the coming months, said Brown.

The modifications implemented were primarily designed to address the low carat recoveries experienced in the previous quarter. While these modifications impacted on the volume of tons treated and, in turn, carats recovered, the modifications proved to be effective. In addition, the company's diamonds are being recovered with less than 1% measured diamond damage.

The company reported a robust financial position with $5-million cash on hand, $5.5-million from proceeds of the second diamond sale (received after the quarter ended) and $15-million available through standby facilities.

Further, Firestone made its first debt repayment of $1.4-million at the end of March as scheduled.

“We are now starting to move towards the better quality ore areas, which will be treated towards the end of the current quarter and as we complete the final ramp-up phase over the coming months.”

The company will hold two diamond sales per quarter and will update the market on the result of such sales in the next quarterly update, expected in July, for the quarter ended June 30.