Russian Alrosa produced 7 million carats of diamonds in Q2

Russian mining giant Alrosa produced 7 million carats of diamonds in the second quarter of 2021 – a fall of 8% quarter-on-quarter but a rise of 22% year-on-year, Rough & Polished reports.

Alrosa has also reported sales of 11.4 million carats and $1.2 billion in revenue for Q2 2021. Rough sales fell 26% quarter-on-quarter. The average selling price of gem-quality diamonds reached $145 per carat. Alrosa reported that demand for jewelry remains strong in all key markets, then added: “At the same time, against the background of a structural decline in diamond production at a number of diamond fields, the stocks of mining companies approached their minimum values; the Company estimates that mining companies’ ability to scale up production is limited. There is a decrease in the levels of rough and polished stocks in the diamond manufacturing sector”.

In other Alrosa news, the miner has re-opened the Zarnitsa open-pit mine in Yakutia, Russia. Zarnitsa stopped production in May 2020 as the market slumped but resumed operation on July 1, IDEX Online reports. Last month, Alrosa re-opened another low-output deposit, the Zarya open pit, also in Yakutia.

Source: en.israelidiamond.co.il

Palladium One Mining’s Finnish project got highly optimistic estimates after diamond drill exploration

“Multiple discoveries of magmatic sulphide mineralization have been outlined, and preliminary indications are that Kaukua South could be several times the size of the Kaukua open-pit resource. This resource currently includes 526,000 palladium-equivalent ounces at a grade of 1.8 g/t in the indicated category and 636,000 palladium-equivalent ounces at a grade of 1.5 g/t in the inferred category”, said Palladium One Mining in a press release. The miner announced that initial visual results from the diamond drill exploration program at the Lantinen Koillismaa (LK) property in Finland show that the project’s Kaukua South discovery is comprised of the same host rocks and indicates that it is the fault-displaced extension of the Kaukua deposit.

“Drilling has extended magmatic sulphide mineralization in Kaukua South more than 3 km east of hole LK20-006, which returned 63.4 metres at 1.88 g/t palladium-equivalent, within 166.7 metres of 1.16 g/t palladium-equivalent. Historic drilling returned 33 metres at 1.9 g/t palladium-equivalent (KAU-08-035), 600 metres west of LK20-006, thereby demonstrating a mineralized strike length of approximately 4 km,” the brief states.

In the view of Peter Lightfoot, one of Palladium One’s directors, the Kaukua South strike extension is exceptionally significant because it has shallow disseminated sulphide mineralization the same as Kaukua and points to the footprint of a large-scale mineral system.

“LK is shaping up to potentially be the largest palladium-dominant open pit project in a best-in-class mining jurisdiction, globally,” Lightfoot said.

Lantinen Koillismaa is located in north-central Finland, approximately 40 km north of the town of Taivalkoski. According to Palladium One, the project area is covered by exploration permit renewals, new applications, and exploration reservation applications.

Exploration permit applications cover 24.9 sq. km and are divided into two groups, namely, the Kaukua Group consisting of the Kaukua and Murtolampi targets and the Haukiaho Group covering the Lipeavaara and Haukiaho targets; as well as Salmivaara, which represents the eastern and western extension of Haukiaho.

Source: canadianminingjournal.com

Karelian Diamond Resources – new diamond reservations granted by Finland mining authority

All the new reservations are in the Karelian Craton in Finland, where Karelian Diamond Resources said it was actively working on the discovery and development of economic diamond deposits. The company has announced that the Finland mining authority, TUKES, has granted it three strategic diamond exploration reservations.

The AIM-traded firm said one of those, KDR-R1, is situated around its two hectare Lahtojoki kimberlite pipe diamond deposit, which is within the Kaavi kimberlite field. It said the other two, KDR-R2 and KDR-R3, are in the Kuhmo kimberlite field target area, around its Riihivaara kimberlite discovery and its ‘anomaly 5’ target, where it previously discovered a green diamond in till.

Following a review of airborne geophysics and past exploration data, the board decided to apply for the new diamond exploration reservations.

It said the reservations secured the adjacent ground to already held and known kimberlite bodies, which it explained was important as kimberlites tended to occur in clusters, and in both areas there were indications for the potential of new kimberlite discoveries.

At the same time, Karelian updated the market on the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, saying that since the outbreak, it has taken measures in accordance with government guidelines to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of its employees, contractors and partners in both Finland and Ireland.

It said the pandemic was currently restricting field and laboratory work in Finland, given the restrictions on operations and movement.

Other work related to its exploration and development programme was still ongoing, however.

“The granting of these Reservations by TUKES is a key step forward for Karelian Diamonds and we consider this to be extremely important in regard to our future development of the Lahtojoki diamond deposit where any additional resources identified could dramatically change the magnitude of the project, and also the advancement of our exploration programme in the company’s Kuhmo target area in what appears to be a new emerging kimberlite province,” said chairman Richard Conroy.

Source: sharecast.com

Karelian’s Finland diamond exploration permit becomes legally valid

Karelian Diamond Resources has announced that the exploration permit received for the Lahtojoki South ore exploration in Finland is now legally valid.

The permit is of specific interest to Karelian Diamond due to its close proximity to the Lahtojoki deposit, which is situated in the Kaavi region of Finland. Covering around 28.8ha, the granted exploration permit comprises the area where kimberlite boulders were revealed. These boulders were discovered to the south-west of the Lahtojoki diamond deposit. They extend more than 400m up-ice from the boulder discovery site, said Karelian Diamond. According to the company, the nature of the boulder material showed that they are from an undiscovered kimberlite.

In August 2017, the company conducted a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the Lahtojoki diamond. The PEA demonstrated the economic existence of the deposit. Karelian Diamond Resources chairman Richard Conroy said: “I am very pleased that this exploration permit near to the Lahtojoki diamond deposit has become legally valid, enabling the company to proceed with its exploration plans for the area.

“The possibility of a new diamondiferous kimberlite discovery close by further increases the overall attractiveness of the Lahtojoki Diamond Deposit.”

The company hopes to develop the Lahtojoki diamond deposit as Europe’s first diamond mine, operating outside Russia.

In February 2019, the company secured a diamond exploration reservation situated in the Liperi region of eastern Finland from The Finnish Mining Authority (TUKES).

In the same year, TUKES granted a reservation situated in the Salla region of northeastern Finland to Karelian Diamond.

Source: mining-technology.com

Vast Resources to soon start initial trial production at Baita Plai mine in Romania

UK-based Vast Resources said that it will shortly start initial trial production at its Baita Plai polymetallic mine in central Romania.

The current cold commissioned capacity is up to 7,000 metric tonnes per month and will be progressively increase to 14,000 metric tonnes per month following the arrival of the new equipment from China in January, Vast Resources said in a statement.

Over the past year, since the association licence was granted, Vast Resources has either upgraded, refurbished or replaced the mine’s infrastructure required for the cold commissioning.

In October, Vast Resources signed a binding conditional bond issue deed for a facility of up to $15 million (13.5 million euro) through an issuance of secured convertible bonds to UK-based fund Atlas Capital Markets for the purpose of bringing projects in Romania and Zimbabwe into production.

In April, Vast announced it has received a draft proposal for a loan of up to $10 million from a Swiss bank to finance its Romanian mining projects.

Vast Resources, formerly known as African Consolidated Resources Plc, is an emerging mid-tier, multi-commodity, multi-jurisdictional development and mining company with a project portfolio covering gold, nickel, copper, phosphate and diamonds. It also owns a gold mine in Zimbabwe.

Source: seenews.com