The Lerala Diamond Mine, which is currently under care and maintenance, is located in north-east Botswana, 34km north of the Martin’s Drift Border Post with South Africa, and comprises five diamondiferous kimberlite pipes totaling 6.66h in size.
Kimberley Diamonds executive chairman Alex Alexander said that the Lerala Diamond Mine provides an near-term development opportunity for Kimberley with beyond flagship Ellendale diamond project and our recently acquired Argyle Smoke Creek Alluvial diamond project.
"Lerala has great potential and we are planning to bring the mine back into production this year. Rough diamond prices are on the rise and KDL is well positioned to capitalise on this," Alexander added.
"This acquisition is in line with our growth strategy of becoming a diversified diamond producer and we will continue to look for further acquisition opportunities."
Kimberley is planning to resume production at Lerala, which has a 15 year fully-permitted mining license covering an area of 21.86km2, in 2014 while a 230tph processing and recovery plant located on site will undergo modification to reach 1.9Mtpa of ore throughput.
