JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Junior diamond firm Kimberley Diamonds has secured a A$10-million loan from China-based auction house Zhejiang Huitong Auction, which it intends to use for the recommissioning of its Lerala diamond mine, in Botswana.
The ASX-listed company has received the first A$5-million of the loan and will receive the balance by the end of July.
Kimberley Diamonds MD Noel Halgreen said on Tuesday the funding would allow the company to immediately take key steps towards recommissioning the Lerala diamond mine, which, once reopened, would provide a significant revenue stream.
He added that Kimberley Diamonds was in discussions with third parties to raise another A$5-million, which it would need to complete the recommissioning of the mine.
Mantle Diamonds, which Kimberley Diamonds bought in 2014, operated the Lerala mine between February and July 2012, producing 73 403 ct.
The Lerala mine is about 34 km north of the Martin’s Drift border post with South Africa and comprises five diamondferous pipes, totalling 6.66 ha in size. De Beers discovered the kimberlites in the early 1990s.