15 April 2008
Windhoek — South African diamond miner Trans Hex is looking at ways to get out of its loss-making deepwater mining operations in Namibia, the firm said on Thursday.
"The Namibian operations...continue to make losses, and various options for exiting this business are being actively considered," Trans Hex said in an operational update posted on the Mining Weekly website. The company's Angolan operations also continued to be affected by "difficult operating conditions", but management had made good progress in implementing long-term solutions to tackle these operational difficulties and recovery plan milestones were being achieved in Angola, the firm reported.
In South Africa, Trans Hex had successfully recommissioned its Bloeddrift plant, where throughput had been increased from pre-shutdown levels.
Second-half production in South Africa, which includes Bloeddrift and the company's flagship Baken operations, was expected to be similar to the first-half numbers reported by the firm. "Trans Hex continues to make good progress implementing operational improvements at both its production and exploration facilities, and has now built a firm platform from which to turn the business around," the company said. Demand and prices for its stones remained strong, with the last diamond sale of 2007 attracting prices about 14 per cent higher than the previous sale in November.
Trans Hex plans to publish results for the financial year ending March 31 2007 on or around May 28 2008.
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