TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – South Africa-focused diamond junior Diamcor has completed the upgrade of its in-field equipment at the Krone-Endora at Venetia diamond project, in Limpopo, in anticipation of a planned move to 24/7 operations as soon as it receives its mining right, which had been applied for and is currently in process.

Diamcor on Wednesday said it had completed the procurement, delivery, construction and installation of the “vast majority” of equipment and infrastructure required to significantly expand the quarrying and in-field screening operations at the project.

The company constructed and installed a new semimobile in-field screening plant at the project, aimed at significantly enhancing and increasing overall processing capacities and operating efficiencies in the long term. With the new expanded and upgraded in-field screening systems complete, the company would now begin testing and processing all materials, including the +10 mm material from the project, which was not previously tested.

The company in November sold the first tender of 3 579.58 ct of rough diamonds for an average of $142.71/ct, which had been recovered during the ongoing testing and commissioning exercises at the project. However, the majority of diamonds were from material in the +1 mm to -10 mm size fractions of the lower-grade, surface to 10 m depths of the K1 area of the project. Despite the fact that no material above 10 mm in size had yet been processed, 362 individual rough diamonds with a combined weight of 659.33 ct were recorded at 1 ct in size or larger.

The installation of a large mobile barrel screen and feed bid, with a throughput capacity of up to 800 t/h, would allow material to be dumped directly from mining trucks into the system without additional handling. This barrel screen was expected to significantly enhance the liberation of diamonds from materials.

The company also modified its Terex H6302 power screen to increase throughput capacities and enable the classification of material in conjunction with the new equipment added to the in-field screening process.

The upgrades also included installation of a rotary dry-scrubbing unit to better liberate material in the -28 mm to +5 mm size fractions, as well as the construction of a large, three-story support structure, and installation of a new high-capacity Dabmar Bivitec nonblinding double-deck screening unit to provide increased capacities and efficiencies in the removal of -1.2 mm fines material.

The company had also commissioned an additional 500 kVA diesel generator to power the in-field screening plant. Several large conveyor systems to transport materials between the various in-field screening plant components were also added, as well as several new pieces of Volvo heavy equipment.

Following completion of the final commissioning and testing exercises, the company planned to focus on achieving staged monthly operational increases through a move to trial mining to provide the company with production and cash flow.

In conjunction with the full-scale mining exercises, the company would also carry out a bulk sampling programme on new areas of the project not accounted for in the initial National Instrument 43-101 technical report filed by Diamcor as part of the acquisition process.

Diamcor at the end of last year announced the closing of an additional $4-million in funding from its strategic alliance partner, Tiffany & Co, which it used to complete the equipment upgrades.

Tiffany’s right of first refusal was modified in conjunction with the additional financing, so that Diamcor may sell for its own account the standard assortments derived from the first three shipments of diamonds produced from the project. The initial tender fell within this modified right of first refusal arrangement.

Diamcor’s TSX-V-listed shares traded at C$1.46 apiece on Wednesday.