Operator Etruscan Resources (EET-T) and minority partner Mountain Lake Resources (MOA-T) have sold the first bundle of diamonds produced at the recently opened Tirisano alluvial diamond mine at Ventersdorp, South Africa.
The 409.8-carat parcel, including a 26.8-carat stone, sold for US$211,115 or US$515 per carat.
The realized average per-carat price represents a 29% premium over the average selling price assumed for project economics at Tirisano. The partners note that not all the gravel processed during the commissioning of the plant came from the controlled mining block.
The package also included a 1.8-carat rare, fancy yellow stone, which sold for US$4,555 per carat.
The partners say the recovery of the 26-carat diamond and a fancy yellow stone confirms historic records that indicated stones of exceptional size and quality exist in the gravels.
Annual production from Tirisano is projected at 19,200 carats at an operating cost of US$2.74 per tonne of gravel treated. Existing resources will last 10 years, though the known deposit covers only a fraction of the targeted East Gravel paleochannel. The company is studying the possibility of expanding the plant later in 2003.
The project’s independently verified resource stands at 12 million tonnes and is expected to average 1.6 carats per 100 tonnes. About 1.2 million tonnes will be mined per year at a stripping ratio of 0.6-to-1.
Etruscan shares were 2 pennies higher at $1.37, and Mountain Lake shares were 7 richer at $1 in late afternoon trade in Toronto on Jan. 23.
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