Staff Reporter
16 September 2005
Windhoek — NAMDEB, the global leader in alluvial diamond mining, has announced a substantial growth in sales of diamond carats for the first six months of 2005 compared to the corresponding period in 2004.
The Group Financial Manager, Andrew Schanknecht, in his presentation on Tuesday indicated that so far the company has sold 888 000 carats in the first six months compared to 810 000 carats sold last year.
The sales so far stand at N$2 054 million compared to N$1 708 million generated in sales last year. The increase in sales, according to the Group Financial Manager, is due to normal fluctuation inventories and timing of sales experienced in the first half of 2004.
He added that the quantity of carats sold is most likely to double in the second half of the year.
However, the average size of stones for production in the second half of the year would be lower compared to the first half and thus the average price of the carat would be lesser.
"This is due to the expected increase in the proportion of smaller goods from the Elizabeth Bay Mine," explained the manager.
During the second period, significant capital expenditure is planned especially in the areas of metallurgical recovery efficiencies, replacement of earth-moving equipment, preparing for marine dredging and commencing construction of the second phase of the Pocket Beaches Mining. The company would venture into these small projects due to the depleting current reserves.
Considering that pushing the mine life is a continuous process, the company is looking more at sea mining and less at land mining. Namdeb continues to invest substantial capital in finding new reserves for diamonds and economic mining and treating previously uneconomic reserves.
In the first half of 2005, the company managed to improve the status of the Elizabeth Bay Mine by constructing crushing and milling capacity to enable the treatment of wet, cemented and clay-rich ores.
These efforts would result in prolonging the lifespan of the mine between seven to ten years from now. Additionally, Namdeb Board last month approved a project whose capital cost would be N$217 million. This project is part of the Pocket Beaches Phase 2 where the discovered resource lies almost 20 metres below sea level.
This means there is a need for dredging especially that the resource lies very close to the sea line.
"The net result is that the full year distributable amount for 2005 is expected to be lower than that of 2004," Schanknecht said.
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