Tahera busy at Jericho

Construction of the Jericho diamond mine in Nunavut is under way now that Tahera Diamond (TAH-T) has assembled all the pieces for the project.

The company has moved 550 truckloads of equipment, materials and supplies to the site along a 600-km ice road. The haul included 5.5 million litres of fuel, a 200-man modular camp facility, plus all the equipment and supplies needed to build the mine.

Site preparation and earthwork activities have been under way at Jericho since mid-February. The company has already erected fuel storage tanks with a capacity of 4 million litres; the project’s accommodation facilities are slated for completion by early May. Some of the construction personnel are being housed at the mothballed Lupin mine of Kinross Gold (K-T).

Construction should be complete by year-end, with commercial production slated for early 2006.

Jericho will consist of a small open pit and an underground mine. Plans call for total production of 3.1 million carats over at least eight years.

The company recently inked a diamond purchase and marketing arrangement with Tiffany & Co. (TIF-N), which will buy a “significant” portion of Jericho’s run-of-mine production and (for a fee) sell the remaining stones on the international market for Tahera. Tiffany also agreed to provide a $35-million loan facility to help build the $76.5-million mine (T.N.M., Nov. 8-14/04).