After a number of months of uncertainty , I hear from 3 different sources that the carat production of diamonds on the mine has reversed and appears to be on the increase....
Obviously I just hear these from mining types on the mine and hope that this is in fact true....
If it is the case, one can only wonder what has caused the reversal of fortunes?
bravo
@ Mike
In 1970 the mines life was estimated to last till 1985
Long way since then........... i gues they will not open that area for quite some time......
New techniques have always prooved to find stones in dumps tha were declared barren
In my time, the old german dumps were recycled and found to be full of the stones
I wish for the community it may continue for longer
Georg, life of mine planning horizon has always been 15 years. Also you can produce more carats but less profit. Profitability is a function of many factors,e.g. average stone size, average grade, cost per carat and per ton mined and revenue per carat and per ton mined.The Argyll mine in Australia produced tens of millions of carats (at one point inexcess of 30 million per annum) but makes a lower profit margin than NAMDEB. In the 60s and 70s CDM's working costs amounted to only 25% of revenue.For every billion rand of revenue it cost the mine only 250 million to recover.That produces a hansome profit margin. So, what one has to consider in evaluating the profitability of a mine is all of the above and some. Not an easy task.Regards. Gordon
@ Gordon
Well explained and points taken
We on the engineering side only worried about running time and as little downtime as possible in the plants
An effort by many trades and skills. and we were very dedicated , specially on 3 Plant
Quote from: Michael Alexander on June 30, 2008, 02:45:00 PM
After a number of months of uncertainty , I hear from 3 different sources that the carat production of diamonds on the mine has reversed and appears to be on the increase....
Obviously I just hear these from mining types on the mine and hope that this is in fact true....
If it is the case, one can only wonder what has caused the reversal of fortunes?
bravo
Honey pot at the pocket beaches
image11
@ Gordon, to true one does not always take into consideration the costs of getting that stone or the quality....
@ Stennie.... I heard that is'nt just Pocket beaches, but all the plants, PTF, 3 PLant and Pockets...
Please leave 3 Plant out off it , they havent come close to making call at all this year .