• INDUSTRY REPORT | DIAMONDS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

When the going gets toughRockwell Diamonds gets goingTSX/JSE-listed alluvial diamond miner Rockwell Diamonds has become known for its resilience, tenacity and determination to achieve its production target – mining 500 000 m³/month from its Middle Orange River (MOR) project portfolio – regardless of market conditions or operational challenges. Th e imminent re-introduction of Wouterspan, last mined in 2009, sees the company take another positive step closer towards realising this goal, writes LAURA CORNISH.

period for the alluvial diamond specialist over the last 12 months. In spite of this, the company has risen to and embraced these diffi culties and, in typical Rockwell Diamonds style, implemented a number of changes which has repositioned it more comfortably for the immediate and long-term future.

This more specifi cally includes the acquisition of the Remhoogte Holsloot Complex (RHC) in May 2015, the security of additional resources to extend the mining life of Saxendrift, general processing improvements and most importantly, the speedy redevelopment of its large-scale Wouterspan operation.

The company also closed its head offi ce in Johannesburg in January this year and relocated key staff (including CEO and president James Campbell) to site where a more hands-on approach in just a few short months has delivered immediate improvements at both a corporate and operational level.

Wouterspan – the emerging crown jewelLocated near Douglas in in the Northern Cape, the R125 million Wouterspan project is on the brink of being commissioned and brought into production – around August

The combination of weak diamond prices, pending closure of Saxendrift and underperformance of

Niewejaarskraal which led to its closure in July last year has resulted in a challenging

40 MINING REVIEW AFRICA | JULY 2016

Wouterspan represents a modern day equivalent of the Saxendrift plant but with superior engineering standards

Rockwell Diamonds has incorporated fi ve Bourevestnik machines into Wouterspan’s plant footprint to process both

fi ne and medium faction material

MINING REVIEW AFRICA | JULY 2016 41

INDUSTRY REPORT | DIAMONDS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA •this year – just fi ve months after the board gave the project the go ahead (on the provision that it could be delivered as cost eff ectively as possible).

“And we did so, without raising equity or taking on too much debt,” says Campbell. Wouterspan has been built using components from the dormant Niewejaarskraal and Saxendrift Hill Complex (SHC) plants. Mining partner CML also supplied necessary conveyors, bins and screens from the previously Exxaro-owned Tshikondeni coal operation which it bought out of liquidation.

Although designed to deliver the exact same run-of-mine (ROM) throughput as Saxendrift – 200 000 m3/month (m3/m), Wouterspan represents a modern day equivalent plant with superior engineering standards Rockwell Diamonds has never seen or implemented before. “It comprises signifi cantly wider conveyor belts, has greater redundancy and comprises feed bins for storage capacity between sections for example.”

A true advocate of the Russian-developed Bourevestnik diamond sorting technology, Rockwell Diamonds has incorporated fi ve of these machines into the plant’s footprint to process both fi ne and medium faction material. XRT (X-Ray transmission) sorters will process the coarser stones – in place of a DMS circuit or pan feeders,” Campbell outlines.

While the plant itself represents a new modern mining era for Rockwell Diamonds, so does the company’s planned production start-up. “Our business is driven by volumes and the recovery of +-100 carat stones which has traditionally taken a number

of months to achieve with our previous operation start-ups. Our approach to Wouterspan is to commission the plant by August and ramp-up to nameplate capacity as quickly as possible thereafter to provide us with the necessary economy of scale and access to the larger stones as quickly as possible,” Campbell explains.

imminent closure of the main Saxendrift operation.

The 2 634 ha property, including two operational plants (out of three), is producing about 0.85 carats for every 100 m3 mined and averages about US$1 600/carat although this number was signifi cantly higher for its Q1, 2017 results. RHC averaged $1 944/carat in this period owing to the recovery and incidence of larger stones which generally occurs after increasing processing volumes.

A new in-fi eld screening capability installed late in FY 2016 together with an improvement in earthmoving vehicle availability was refl ected in the notable increase in volumes mined and processed (up 30% and 42% respectively in Q1, 2017 compared to Q4, 2016).

While Campbell notes that the project has another three years of operational lifespan, he notes that the company is currently determining if/how this can be extended.

Saxendrift delivers to the very endSaxendrift, Rockwell Diamonds’ bread-and-butter cash fl ow for such a considerable portion of its history, continues to represent the company’s unique determination to extract maximum value beyond any shareholder or stakeholder’s expectation from a single asset – even as it approaches the end of its life.

The operation has been under review for closure since the middle of 2015 but Rockwell Diamonds has continued to push

Holsloot 91 carat Remhoogte 67 carat Saxendrift 57 carat Saxendrift 60 carat

Middle Orange River Diamonds (+50 carats): April – May 2016

“ Wouterspan represents our chance to start afresh and we have built the plant and positioned the operation to last,” James

Campbell

This timing is also well aligned to Saxendrift’s operational status – which should start ramping down in August as well. This will enable the company to relocate its personnel and earthmoving equipment between operations seamlessly.

“Wouterspan represents our chance to start afresh and we have built the plant and positioned the operation to last.” With a 40 million cubic metre resource spanning nearly 7 500 ha, the project will produce diamonds for at least 10 years, which is above-average for alluvial deposits in the region. “We also have high expectations for its high-quality stone output thanks to the mine’s previous delivery of blue and yellow diamonds. It will undeniably be the jewel

in our portfolio crown.”

Remhoogte Holsloot complex (RHC) fi nds its comfort zoneThe 150 000 m3/m RHC operation, situated 195 km

south west of Kimberley, could be considered a blessing for

Rockwell Diamonds and a key strategic asset in aiding the company

to rebuild its production profi le and MOR footprint after SHC closed in June 2015 – and even more so when coupled with the

in our p

RecocTo

sobe

Rockwstrategic

200 000 m³/m Wouterspan’s nameplate capacity which it hopes

to reach as quickly after commissioning

(August 2016) as possible

A view of the pan feeders at the Saxendrift plant

• INDUSTRY REPORT | DIAMONDS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

The MSA Group is a leading provider of

exploration, geology, mining and environmental solutions to the mining industry.

Tel: +27 (0)11 880 4209 Email: info@msagroupservices.com www.msagroupservices.com

@TheMSAGroupthemsagroup/company/the-msa-group

the mine beyond its limits, preventing retrenchments and building working capital to help fund the construction of Wouterspan.

“Having mined all the paleo gravels we could we needed to fi nd additional and unaccounted for resource and fortunately, were able to,” Campbell reveals. The company successfully found a considerable volume of buried middlings material which previous owners Trans Hex and Gem Diamonds originally chose not to process. It was used to rehabilitate an old pit and remained untouched. Situated no deeper than 10/15 m below surface, the material is easy to mine and process. “Since this initiative started in August 2015, the operation has been cash fl ow break-even.”

The fi nal stretch to 500 000 m³/mAt 350 000 m3/m, Wouterspan and RHC already positions Rockwell Diamonds more than halfway towards its 500 000 m3/m production target. The company does however have promising plans in the pipeline to deliver on this in the medium term future.

“Late in 2014 we acquired a large land

package in the MOR region with the necessary prospecting and mining licences and are confi dent that the area comprises a number of potentially valuable properties which could be developed into mining operations. We have already started looking at some exciting areas and hope to start bulk sampling in 2017. This undoubtedly provides us with the opportunity to build at least one more mine and push us towards or even over our target.”

Campbell is in fact an exploration specialist and during his time at De Beers was part of the team that discovered the Klipspringer and Oaks mines in Limpopo. He also contributed towards the development of the AK6 (now Karowe) mine when also with De Beers and then African Diamonds. Essentially, this means

he is well positioned to fulfi l the fi nal leg of growing Rockwell Diamonds’ growth strategy through exploration and new mine development.

Kimberlite opportunitiesCampbell is confi dent that the opportunity to discover a feasible kimberlite in southern Africa exists and as such, the CEO and his team are determined to expand the Rockwell Diamond portfolio to include a kimberlite. This will not happen overnight however and requires a lot of patience and persistence – two qualities Rockwell Diamonds also has in abundance.

“The barriers to entry in South Africa in particular are so high at present that investors are reluctant to invest and support the industry – because kimberlite discoveries are so rare and because there is such an abundance of in-country complexity to deal with including black economic empowerment, uncertain legislation conditions and overall high political risk. Rockwell has however proven that it can overcome such challenges – in an open and transparent manner – making us the ideal company to explore for kimberlites.”

Regardless of circumstances, both those which can and cannot be controlled, Rockwell Diamonds continues to break barriers and learn from its experiences. Perseverance is critical to its sustainability and Campbell (together with his team) continue to display their steadfast determination to reach 500 000 m3/m and reap the rewards that will naturally result from this achievement thereafter. MRA

WHAT HAPPENED AT NIEWERJAARSKRAAL?The average quality of diamonds recovered from the Greenfi elds Niewejaarskraal operation, situated almost adjacent to Saxendrift, was not in line with expectations according to the information available to Rockwell Diamonds. As a result, the project did not deliver the average dollar per carat necessary to sustain the operation, which was built in 2014.

“There is an assumption that all the diamonds across our MOR properties have similar assortments – but Niewejaarskraal proved this is not the case,” says Campbell. For now, it remains on care and maintenance.

Saxendrift continues to contribute tonnages to the Rockwell Diamonds production portfolio

Processing diamonds at RHC

RHC is a 150 000 m³m alluvial operation

CONSULMET (Pty) LimitedWorld Leaders in Diamond Processing

i m d ti e e y

Mi e d O e P ti m C me C t C e Ni e

For further information please contact us on +27 11 608-0396 or email us at enquiries@consulmet.com / derek@consulmet.com. 15 Friesland Drive, Longmeadow Business Estate South,

Modderfontein, Johannesburg, www.consulmet.com

omplete Diamond rocess lants including omminution, Feed reparation, DMS, Bulk /Bulk - a and ew Final ecover echnologies 1tph 1500tph

Spiral oncentrators old lants Full LS oncentrators and nfrastructure onsulmet onsulting - h drometallurgical process

engineering/ owners team and LS S -E plants

t MS m ete it i te ted t m

XRT Pre-concentration Modules

Complete Mobile 30tph Alluvial Diamond Plant with 10tph DMS

Provider of Minerals and Metals Process Plants