AFRICA

Operator Etruscan Resources (EET-T) and minority partner Mountain Lake Resources (MOA-T) have sold the first bundle of alluvial diamonds produced at the Tirisano 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.)

Also included in the package was a rare, 1.8-carat, “fancy yellow” stone, which fetched US$4,555 per carat.

Etruscan and Mountain Lake say the recovery of the 26-carat diamond and a fancy yellow stone confirms historic records that indicate the presence of stones of exceptional size and quality.

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 says it may expand the plant later in 2003.

The project’s independently verified resource stands at 12 million tonnes grading 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.