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Sale of large high value diamonds from Lemphane Kimberlite, Lesotho, Africa
Paragon Diamonds Limited, the AIM quoted diamond development company, has successfully sold a number of stones recovered during the Company’s 2013 bulk sampling programme at its flagship Lemphane kimberlite pipe in Lesotho. Lemphane is located among a cluster of actively mined kimberlites known for producing large high value stones. The diamonds sold include fancy yellow stones which achieved values as high as US$2,500 per carat. The sale was undertaken as an exercise to test market demand for diamonds recovered at Lemphane, ahead of the near term commencement of Stage 1 production. Stage 1 will involve the extraction of 1 million tonnes of kimberlite and, according to an independent report, is expected to lead to the recovery of over 100 diamonds larger than 9 carats, including stones over 100 carats in size.
Paragon’s Chairman, Philip Falzon Sant Manduca said, “With Stage 1 production at Lemphane fast approaching, the successful sale of diamonds demonstrates management’s focus on ensuring all relevant stages in the production and sales of diamonds have been tried and tested. This ensures that Paragon hits the ground running once mining and distribution operations commence in Q1 2015.
“Based on our excellent diamond mining address and the work we have carried out to date, we are highly confident Lemphane will provide Paragon with a source of large high value diamonds for years to come, giving the Company an excellent platform to build a leading and cost efficient, diamond house. In line with this, significant progress has been made on a number of fronts including sourcing, designing and approving a brand new modular state of the art processing plant using the latest X-Ray recovery technology. The current advances in this technology have proved highly successful at other mining operations, increasing recovery of larger stones and significantly enhancing the project economics. I look forward to providing further updates in the near term.”
