JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa-focused diamond project developer Diamcor Mining reports that a number of expansions at its Krone-Endora at Venetia project are targeted for completion prior to the end of the current quarter.
The Vancouver-headquartered company in August raised C$5.82-million through an oversubscribed private placement, with funds used to acquire more equipment and materials to support the continued advancement and for general and administrative purposes.
All water infrastructure at the mine has been completed, increasing the total number of boreholes and pipelines from three to seven.
The additional infrastructure and water resources are designed to support the current needs of the project and, while no further requirements in this area are envisioned for the near term, Diamcor will continue to evaluate additional sources of water to support potential growth requirements in the future.
The project’s in-field dry-screening plant has been extensively tested, refined and developed to achieve the company’s target of reducing the material recovered from the quarry by as much as 60% through removal of fine materials under 1 mm in size.
Recent efforts in developing this facility largely focused on the processing of material in the +1 mm to -15 mm size fractions, with material in the +15 mm to -45 mm size fractions being stockpiled pending the final decision on a dedicated large material crushing circuit.
The installation of a finalised crushing circuit is aimed at enhancing processing recoveries by liberating any diamonds held in the larger calcretised material that were previously stockpiled, while providing the potential to recover large diamonds above 15 mm in a dedicated large diamond recovery circuit that is being installed at the project’s main treatment plant.
Upon completion, all material up to 45 mm will be processed concurrently, moving forward, and about 550 000 t of large material previously stockpiled will also be processed over the coming quarters.
In conjunction with the efforts that are under way to install the finalised crushing circuit, additional dust suppression systems are being installed at the dry-screening plant. The finalisation of the crushing circuit is expected to be the first of the current upgrades to be completed and will be operational prior to the end of November.
The expansions under way at the Krone-Endora at Venetia’s main treatment plant are designed to support planned increases in processing volumes, the processing of material up to 45 mm, the establishment of a dedicated large diamond recovery circuit and the expansion of the project’s final recovery systems.
The efforts include an increase in the size of the project’s dense media separation unit to support added processing volumes, the installation of four new X-ray diamond recovery units and the expansion of the project’s final recovery and sorting facilities.
Additional items aimed at further enhancing water consumption efficiencies and the recoveries of wastewater for the long term are also being completed as part of the process.
Diamcor has also elected to expand and further automate the project’s final recovery facilities.