Diamcor Mining Inc., (the "Company") an emerging producer of rough diamonds, has recovered the first "special" diamond in the +10.8 carat category from its Krone-Endora at Venetia Project (the "Project"). The recovery of the very good quality 11.23 carat diamond occurred during recent processing of material in the +1.0mm to -12.0mm size fraction through the previously announced expanded quarrying and in-field screening operations at the Project.
In addition to the recovery of the first diamond in the "special" category, a total of approximately 2,464 carats have also been recovered from the limited processing completed, with the largest non-special diamond being recorded at 8.66 carats in size.
"The recovery of a diamond of this size and quality further confirms the potential of the Project to produce large quality diamonds", commented Mr. Dean Taylor , president and chief executive officer of Diamcor, "to have it occur so quickly based on the limited processing of material mainly up to 12.0mm in size is also very promising", commented Mr. Dean Taylor
As was widely reported, the region experienced very heavy rainfall throughout the first quarter of 2013. These unusual rain levels had not been recorded in the area for over 200 years. In addition to flood damage to roads, fences, and properties in the area, including Krone-Endora, the excessive rains have proved challenging for mining operations, resulting in the delays and in some cases the suspension of normal mining operations. At the Krone-Endora mine site, stockpiles of larger material in the +12.0mm size fractions targeted for processing in the first quarter could not be processed effectively through the in-quarry dry-screening plant, and the processing of other size material was also greatly limited due to these rains.
"While the significant rains delayed our efforts to advance the Project as quickly as desired and limited our ability to process material at levels targeted in the short-term, operations are now returning to normal", noted Mr. Taylor. "We're now focusing on ramping up operations and are excited about the prospect of processing larger size material".
As previously announced on March 13, 2013, the Company successfully completed the desired procurement, delivery, construction, and installation of the vast majority of equipment and infrastructure required to significantly expand the quarrying and in-field dry-screening operations at the Project. These upgrades were part of the Company's final preparations in anticipation of a planned move to 24/7 operations in the near future, and were completed as budgeted through the previously announced $4.0 million in additional financing from its long-term strategic alliance partner Tiffany & Co. Canada, a subsidiary of world famous New York based Tiffany & Co. The expanded quarrying and in-field screening operations are designed to provide significant operational cost savings and efficiencies over the long-term of the Project through the removal of an estimated 60-65% of fine material (-1.0mm in size) at the quarry through a dry-screening process. Production capacities of the expanded facilities are designed to exceed those of the main processing plant to allow for the stockpiling of treated and screened materials at the main processing plant. With the fine material removed, screened material stockpiled at the plant would not be affected by rains in the future. The delays caused by the unusual rains in the first quarter of 2013 were a result of unfortunate timing, in that material recovered from quarry was not able to be processed through the expanded in-field dry-screening operations prior to being saturated by the rains, thus no stockpile of previously screened material was available at the main plant for processing as would be expected under normal operations.
Source: http://www.diamcormining.com