DiamondCorp’s Lace Mine Development Delayed

(IDEX Online News) – Southern African diamond mining, development and exploration company DiamondCorp has announced that development of the Lace mine project in the Free State province of South Africa has fallen behind schedule for safety reasons.

The underground tunnel development is proceeding slower than planned due to the need to drain water from old workings in fractured ground near the kimberlite contact and the necessity of additional support to be installed and cover drilling for safety on the 290m level doming tunnel as the mining proceeded near old workings.

The slower-than-planned progress is affecting the company’s bottom line. Mine development costs to date are averaging R44,193 ($3485) per meter against a budget of R37,000 ($2918) per meter due to the impact of fixed labour and electricity costs.

The company said there is limited scope for making up the lost time, but it is investigating options for accelerating blasting of the slot drive to keep the tonnage ramp-up closer to schedule.

DiamondCorp also announced that it has raised gross proceeds of £5.27 million ($8.9 million) from the issue of new shares, which provides sufficient working capital to fund commercial mining operations at Lace as well as certain additional capital expenditure to enhance mine economics.