Vancouver – Being top bidder in the court ordered auction, Diamond Fields International (DFI-T) now owns the 68-metre diamond mining ship, the mv Anya.
The vessel, which will be renamed the mv Diamond Fields Discoverer, is fully equipped with twin 24-inch airlifts, a 30 tonne-per-hour dense medium separating plant, twin Caterpillar diesel engines and was originally built by B.C. Marine Shipbuilders of Vancouver in 1976. The company plans an upgrade to the vessel over the next 6 months, improving its mining efficiency.
The Anya had previously been successfully mining some of Diamond Fields’ offshore Namibian license areas under a contract with operators Gemfarm Investments and Lazig.
Diamond Fields obtained a loan of $1.95 million from Quest Capital (QC-T) to fund the acquisition of the ship. Quest’s loan is secured and they will receive 380,000 shares of Diamond Fields as a fee in addition to interest on the loan. They were previously issued 100,000 shares for providing a standby guarantee.
Previously reliant on third-party contractors for its marine diamond operations, the acquisition now provides Diamond Fields with its own mining vessel.
On the production front, the company has reported its diamond count from the Marshal Fork deposit off the coast from Luderitz, Namibia. Since operations commenced on June 9th of this year, over the four months to October 7th, a total of 52,826 carats have been recovered with 95% being classified as gem quality. The haul of gemstones is split equally with joint venture partner Samicor Mining Services. Of its allocated 26,413 carats of stones, Diamond Fields has sold 20,799 carats for US$4.4 million, or an average of US$211 per carat, eclipsing the previous year’s stone valuations by 44%. From the gross revenues realized by the company, monthly operational costs were about US$400,000 and the Namibian Government receives 10% of the total valuation as a royalty.
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