Botswana: Firestone Accelerates Decision on New Mine
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
8 October 2008
Posted to the web 9 October 2008
Diamond mining and exploration company, Firestone, is accelerating a development decision on the new BK11 diamond mine near Orapa, the chief executive officer, Philip Kenny said on Monday.
Kenny told MiningWeekly online that the BK11 mine might be advanced to the first quarter of next year and production to 2010. Drilling and bulk sampling at BK11 is ahead of schedule, with results now expected before year-end.
The Aim-quoted Firestone built a new diamond recovery facility in Gaborone this year and plans to start drilling and bulk sampling at BK16 this month.
The company found its first macro-diamonds at Tsabong, where bulk sample plant modifications were completed on schedule in August 2008, while work is continuing on another 79 kimberlites.
"We continue to be excited about BK11, where we believe we are close to confirming its economic potential. Our primary focus in the coming months is to complete evaluation work on BK11 as soon as possible, with the objective of accelerating a mine development decision to early 2009," Kenny said.In July, Firestone Diamonds announced 'positive results' from bulk sampling at BK11. The sampling results showed high quality diamonds of about $200 per carat while the operating costs are substantially lower.
Firestone said the BK 11 showed some high quality diamonds of between 10 carats to 33 carats with a robust economic potential and an estimated gross value of $30 per tonne at the cost of between $7-8 per tonne.The company's other prospecting licence in Tsabong has shown encouraging results with two new kimberlites discovered, bringing the total in the area to 85.
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The company has been granted a new prospecting licence for 2,500 square kilometres since the last update during the first quarter of the year.Firestone's BK11 kimberlite is situated approximately 20 kilometres south east of Debswana's Orapa mine and five kilometres north east of the AK6 kimberlite, on which De Beers and African Diamonds are still negotiating to develop a mine. The company has reported encouraging results for its BK 16 project, which is within the Orapa mine area.
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Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
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