New Ellendale Owners Raise $37m
July 26, 21
(IDEX Online) - Burgundy, the new owners of the Ellendale Diamond Project, in Western Australia, today said it had raised $37m and aimed to bring the mine back into production next year.
The investment will fund the re-opening of the deposit, which is a leading source of rare fancy yellow diamonds.
It ceased production in 2015 when previous owner Kimberley Diamond Company went into liquidation.
Burgundy also plans to establish its own cutting and polishing facility for yellow diamonds recovered from Ellendale, as well as gems from its Naujaat project in Canada, and third parties.
"Both of these initiatives position us well to be producing early cashflow and to become a self-funded operational diamond business as soon as possible," the Perth-based company said in a statement.
"This is a very exciting development for Burgundy, as we are now in a position to execute our plans to develop a unique end-to-end diamond business, from exploration to trading platform, focused on high-value diamonds."
Diamond mining in Australia came to an end last November with the closure after 37 years of Rio Tinto's iconic Argyle Mine, which provided 90 per cent of the world's pink gems.
It was the world's largest producer of fancy yellow diamonds and had an exclusive supply agreement with Tiffany & Co.
Pic shows yellow diamonds from Ellendale