This move follows the completion of a phase two reverse circulation drilling programme. The company reports that the diamond drill-hole, designated MTD029, has reached a depth of 300m.

The objective of this drill-hole is to explore the potential for a sulphide-enriched keel within the deepest segment of the Mulga Tank complex.

Western Mines has reported progress in its exploration activities at the Mulga Tank project, with recent drilling confirming the presence of nickel sulphide mineralisation.

This exploration is part of a strategic effort to discover gold and nickel sulphide deposits across WA. The Mulga Tank project, known for its potential in nickel, copper, cobalt and platinum group elements, has been the focus of various drilling programmes over the past year.

This latest phase of exploration was supported by a grant from the WA Government’s Exploration Incentive Scheme.

Following a 17-hole phase two reverse circulation drilling programme, the company has encountered promising results. The phase two drilling aimed to infill around a core area identified in the company’s JORC (Joint Ore Reserve Committee) exploration target modelling.

However, the drilling operations faced a three-week delay due to adverse weather conditions including rain and flooding in the Eastern Goldfields region.

Despite these challenges, samples from the recently completed drilling have been sent to the ALS Laboratory in Perth for geochemical assay.

Winsome has secured (subject to Superior Court of Québec (Court) approval) an exclusive option to acquire, at its election, the assets comprising the Renard diamond mine, processing facility and associated infrastructure or all of the issued capital in Stornoway.

Winsome sees the proposed acquisition as an exciting opportunity to advance the development of Winsome’s 100% owned Adina Lithium Project, and potentially other lithium deposits in the region, by exploring the possibility of repurposing the existing infrastructure at Renard into a lithium processing operation.

Winsome will use the option period to assess the potential technical, economic, environmental, and social feasibility of repurposing Renard, as well as identify the optimal transaction structure and negotiate definitive documents to give effect to the proposed acquisition.

Highlights:

• Exclusive Option Agreement signed to acquire the assets comprising the Renard Mine and associated infrastructure or all the issued capital in Stornoway, subject to Québec Court approval. Renard is located circa. 60 km south of Winsome’s 59 million t lithium mineral resource at Adina.
• Renard processed first ore in 2016 and operated as a diamond operation until 4Q23. The Renard process plant has a design capacity of 2.2 million tpy and Winsome believes is potentially capable of being repurposed to treat lithium bearing material.
• Renard’s process plant consists of dense media separation, upfront jaw, cone, high-pressure grinding rolls and ore sorting circuits necessary for spodumene concentrate production.
• Renard has a range of mineral processing and operating permits that may advance Winsome’s pathway to lithium production at a previously operating, brownfields site in Quebec and facilitate growth in the Canadian EV battery supply chain.
• Potential acquisition of Renard, in which over CAN$900 million of capital has been invested, has the ability to materially reduce upfront capital expenditure, project risk and footprint at Adina.
• Winsome will pay a CAN$4 million Option fee in cash and may exercise the Option during the period following Québec Court approval the Option until 30 Sep 2024, unless extended.
• The Option Period will be used to confirm the feasibility of repurposing Renard, as well as determining the optimal transaction structure, and negotiating definitive transaction agreements.
• Winsome is committed to working with the government and community stakeholders as it undertakes further studies to unlock strategic infrastructure in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay region.

Winsome’s Managing Director, Chris Evans, said: “Should we exercise the Option, the Renard project, processing plant, and associated infrastructure has the potential to be transformative for Winsome’s shareholders.

“It would give us access to a fully permitted, recently operated processing facility that utilises similar steps as a spodumene concentrate dense media separation processing operation, and de-risk project development by materially reducing capital cost.”

“Furthermore, it is a regionally strategic asset with potential to provide a cost-efficient transport and logistics solution for Winsome’s 59 million t Lithium Mineral Resource at Adina, by opening up year-round road and rail access to the growing critical mineral and EV battery supply chain hub in nearby Bécancour, Québec.”

“The Renard assets are in incredibly good condition, having been operating for less than a decade since processing first material in 2016.”

“Winsome has the potential to acquire and repurpose the Renard assets at a fraction of their replacement value.”

“Existing infrastructure includes an operating airport, power station, maintenance workshop and warehouse, water treatment plant, tailings storage, camp and office buildings, all within 60 km of our world-class Adina project.”

We look forward to continuing to work with all of Stornoway’s stakeholders in progressing the transaction to a successful outcome.”

The company opines that Renard can be repurposed to treat lithium bearing material. This move is expected to bolster the development of Winsome’s Adina Lithium Project and potentially other lithium deposits in the region.

The acquisition includes an option for Winsome to take over the diamond mine’s processing facility and associated infrastructure or to acquire all issued capital in Stornoway.

During the option period, Winsome will assess the technical, economic, environmental and social feasibility of repurposing the Renard mine.

It can exercise its option to acquire Renard for C$52m ($38.5m) in cash, shares or a mix of both, following Quebec Court clearance and until 30 September 2024. There is also the provision to extend this timeline.

Winsome is also in the process of updating the Adina Mineral Resource estimate, which is projected to be 59 million tonnes at 1.12% lithium oxide (Li2O) and is on track for completion in the first half of 2024.

Concurrently, studies at the Adina site are progressing with an expected completion in the second half of 2024. These studies will evaluate operating scenarios both with and without the integration of the Renard mine.

The company is currently identifying the optimal transaction structure and negotiating definitive documents to finalise the proposed acquisition.

Winsome managing director Chris Evans said: “Should we exercise the option, the Renard project, processing plant and associated infrastructure has the potential to be transformative for Winsome’s shareholders.

“It would give us access to a fully permitted, recently operated processing facility that utilises similar steps as a spodumene concentrate dense media separation processing operation, and de-risk project development by materially reducing capital cost.”

“Furthermore, it is a regionally strategic asset with potential to provide a cost-efficient transport and logistics solution for Winsome’s 59 million tonne lithium mineral resource at Adina by opening up year-round road and rail access to the growing critical mineral and EV [electric vehicle] battery supply chain hub in nearby Bécancour, Québec.”

The company said that the diamonds had been recovered from the initial processing of around 20% of the kimberlite bulk sample.

Five diamonds are greater than one carat, with the largest weighing 1.95 carats. This represents a preliminary grade of roughly 2.5 carats per one hundred cubic metre from the processing of kimberlite material, it said.

While processing of the kimberlite bulk sample is in progress, Lucapa said the recoveries so far already are the highest count and carat weight of diamonds recovered from any kimberlite bulk sample processed at Lulo.

“This preliminary result represents the best kimberlite diamond recoveries to date, confirms the existence of higher grade primary sources with commercial size diamonds and it bolsters our large geological database,” managing director Stephen Wetherall noted.

“We are beginning to see the desired outcome of the methodical exploration approach in a significant diamond province which has been accelerated by the recent commissioning of the dedicated bulk sample plant,” Wetherall.

Lucapa has a 40% stake in the Lulo mine, which hosts the world’s highest dollar-per-carat alluvial diamonds. The rest is held by Angola’s national diamond company (Endiama) and Rosas & Petalas, a private entity.

This year alone, the partners have recovered 28 stones exceeding 100 carats, with the Lulo Rose, found in September, taking the fifth place among the largest rocks dug up at the mine regardless of its colour.

The mine, which began commercial production in 2015, yielded the largest ever diamond recovered in Angola — a 404-carat white stone later named the “4th February Stone”, in 2016.

According to Hilton Buys, Regional Manager at Weba Chute Systems, the mine’s existing chutes at the ROM section were cracking and breaking under the barrage of heavy kimberlite rocks measuring up to 1 m in diameter.

“Even the robust grizzly feeder could not withstand the impact of these rocks, which were free-falling about two metres from an apron feeder before contact,” Buys said. “Apart from the costs incurred by this damage, the transfer points were posing a significant safety hazard to mine employees.”

The solution – designed and manufactured at Weba Chute Systems’ Wadeville facility – was a special four-tonne swing door in a discharge chute, feeding from the apron feeder to the grizzly. The heavy, fabricated door is strong enough to withstand the impact while absorbing the energy of the falling rocks before allowing them to drop onto the loading section of the grizzly. The feed can then move in a more controlled manner over the grizzly into the crusher below.

“The key principle was for the door not to give way easily, thereby reducing the velocity and momentum of the large chunks,” Buys said. There was also a design requirement to accommodate the movement of smaller rocks. This was dealt with through the addition of a second door, to also ease these rocks onto the grizzly to ensure a more gradual feed into the crusher feed chute. The success of the design, which is based on the Weba Chute Systems principle of controlled flow, has been demonstrated in the chute’s ability to operate with very little maintenance, he says. The only components needing regular attention are chute lips and swing door rails.

“We also included some specific design elements in the crusher feed chute, by installing impact rubbers,” Buys said. “Any rocks that may diverge from the main flow stream will then strike this rubber, minimising the vibration and impact on the body of the chute and are still able to drop gently into the crusher.”

Following on the success of this design, the solution was repeated at other customers’ sites, including mines in the Northern Cape which experienced similar challenges.

Botswana diamond mine feels the impact of Weba Chute Systems custom solution

The primary asset of Gem Diamonds’ Botswana subsidiary is the Ghaghoo diamond mine, which has a mining licence for 25 years until 21 December 2036.

The Ghaghoo diamond mine is a 10.8ha kimberlite pipe in central Botswana, 300km north-west of Gaborone. Its diamond assortment is said to include ‘high-value’ coloured diamonds such as orange and blue stones.

The agreed sum would be paid in two instalments with the first instalment of $2m payable five days after suspensive conditions are fulfilled. The second instalment is payable on or before 31 December 2021.

Vast holds a 90% stake in Okwa Diamonds while Botswana Diamonds owns the remaining 10%. Vast will fund up to $15m for the acquisition and bring the mine to the production phase while Botswana Diamonds will have the right to contribute to earn up to a further 20%.

According to the JV terms, Botswana Diamonds will serve as the operator for the Ghaghoo mine until a management team is in place.

Vast CEO Andrew Prelea said: “The proposed acquisition of the Ghaghoo Mine in Botswana is a highly compelling opportunity for Vast to deliver diamond production in a relatively short period, benefitting from a fully equipped mine that has $250m of investment, infrastructure and a significant resource of quality gems that include large stones and fancy colours.”

Botswana Diamonds managing director James Campbell said that the mine is expected to have a nameplate capacity of 1.25Mtpa once it returns to production.

The acquisition is subject to approvals from relevant regulatory and competition authorities in Botswana, among others. Gem Diamonds placed the mine under care and maintenance in February 2017 due to weak market conditions.

The pilot used Orange Business Services digital IoT technologies to create a geofence that kept miners a safe distance from the heavy machinery used by De Beers Marine South Africa, which is a division of De Beers.

With space limited on the MV Mafuta, which is currently the world’s largest offshore diamond mining vessel, Orange Business Services and De Beers employed wearable sensors to monitor how close crew members were to heavy machinery. MV Mafuta, which is owned and operated by Debmarine Namibia, operates 150 kilometers off the coast of Namibia.

The Orange IoT solution was developed in response to De Beers’ “zero harm” objectives. It followed a joint exploratory workshop with the Orange Business Services team in South Africa and focused on IoT technologies, such as Bluetooth Low Energy locators and wearable sensors, as a precision crew locator tool that can be integrated with onboard antennas and an Orange software engine.

In the pilot, Orange Business Services imported the Mafuta’s AutoCAD files and undertook an onboard site survey to map antenna locations to geofence a predetermined area on the vessel. Ten crew members were equipped with wrist sensors. When one of the crew members breached the geofenced area onboard the vessel, the ship’s bridge was alerted immediately.

The connection between the tags and the IoT sensors was via Bluetooth while Wi-Fi was used to connect De Beer’s network to visualization on a tablet.

De Beers Group Technology SA, which is the R&D arm of De Beers Group, is looking at additional applications, including a breach alert function to link the sensors directly to the mining machinery via a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) control system, and PLCs (programmable logic controllers) to enable automatic cut-off of the machinery in the event of a breach in the geofence.

“This smart IoT solution developed with DeBeers is a great example of innovating and co-creating with our customer. The geofencing pilot has already proved successful in one of the most challenging heavy industrial environments—a floating diamond mine at sea, with prolonged exposure to strong vibration and corrosive saltwater. The next phase of its development will aim to refine the interface and data collection capabilities, and include testing a trigger function to deactivate machinery in the event of a breach of the geofence by a crew member,” said Keith Matthews, country manager for South Africa, Orange Business Services, in a statement.

In a press release, Rio said this means Kunming will be entrusted with the care and custody of the gems.

Established in 1987, Kunming is a global, multi-generational company that has built its business into one of Asia’s leading coloured diamond specialists. In 2019, the company was successful in acquiring the entire Argyle Pink Everlasting Collection, a one-off exclusive selection of certified Argyle pink and red diamonds.

“This is a wonderful honour and showcases our commitment to bringing the world’s rarest diamonds to our global partners and client base,” Harsh Maheshwari, director of Kunming, said in the brief.

In addition, the Company is pleased to report that a programme of drilling was concluded. A total of 13 diamond core drill holes, aggregating 906.16 metres of drilling, was completed on the Beravina deposit. The results from TMH and its technical advisors will be announced by DFR shortly.

About Beravina

The Beravina Project is a hard rock zircon deposit with a NI 43-101 Inferred Mineral Resource estimate of 1.5 million tons at 22.7% zircon (ZrSiO4) equivalent to 15.3% ZrO2 (see the NI 43-101 Technical Report, with an effective date of 14 December 2018 and filed on the Company’s SEDAR profile on 29 January 2019) written by MSA Group (Pty) Ltd. (Michael S. Cronwright, Pr.Sci.Nat., FGSSA, John Derbyshire, Pr.Eng., FSAIMM, Jeremy Witley, Pr.SCI.Nat., FGSSA and Andre van der Merwe, Pr.Sci.Nat., MAusIMM, FGSSA), each of whom is a “qualified person” for purposes of NI 43-101, and independent of the Company as defined in NI 43-101. The Project, which covers 625 hectares, is located in Western Madagascar. Results so far show that, utilizing industry standard beneficiation technologies, zircon can be concentrated to levels of between 50% ZrO2 and 58% ZrO2 with varying levels of thorium ingrained.

Experts from ALROSA’s Vilyui Exploration Expedition will start studies at the depth of 1,200 – 1,600 meters below the surface. This will help to define more precisely the pipe’s dimensions, its position, diamond quality and grades, as well as geological conditions and hydrogeology of the deposit. Total exploration costs are estimated at RUB 2 billion.

The company expects to carry exploration over 2020-2021. The reserve estimate report to be prepared in 2022.

“The bulk of drilling will be performed by VPT-NEFTEMASH LLC. This contractor, defined by a tender, has a record of successful construction of deep and ultra-deep prospecting and production wells for major oil and gas producers. It possesses state-of-the-art technologies for controlled-angle drilling and has its own facilities in Mirny and Lensk districts of Yakutia. Yakutniproalmaz institute will analyze all the information to prepare a feasibility study and a reserve estimate report,” said Sergey Khvostik, the head of Vilyui Exploration Expedition.

Upon approval by ALROSA Executive Committee, these documents will be submitted to the Russian State Commission of Mineral Reserves (GKZ).

The company pays special attention to ensure industrial and environmental safety while carrying borehole exploration at water-bearing horizons and massive salt-saturated layers. 15 separate branches drilled from one main shaft will provide a unique geological information on the deeper part of the kimberlite pipe. Another two vertical wells will provide data for the design of the future mine structure.

Mir underground mine was suspended in 2017. According to the concept approved in 2019, a decision about the future of the mine requires additional exploration of the deposit’s deep levels. Decision to restart the mine will depend on positive economics of the project provided the highest level of industrial safety both at the construction and mining stages will be achieved. If both conditions are met, a reconstruction of the mine may start no earlier than 2024. Preliminary estimates show that these works will take another 6-8 years