Firestone secures another toll treatment deal with De Beers

Production and Markets

Firestone Diamonds, the junior diamond development company, has been selected for another De Beers toll treatment project, this time at the Namdeb assets on Namibia’s coast.

Firestone has been selected as the preferred supplier for a dredge and floating treatment plant (FTP).

The announcement comes a year after Firestone announced that it had been chosen as the preferred bidder by Debswana to build and operate a toll treatment plant for tailings at the Jwaneng diamond mine in Botswana. The company also toll treated ore for De Beers on a South African project a few years ago.

Firestone says that Namdeb, jointly owned by De Beers and the Namibian government, is currently seeking outsourcing alternatives to extend the life of its operations.

Firestone and Namdeb will now jointly complete a feasibility study for review and approval by the Namdeb board, following which contract negotiations will be finalised. The plant is expected to have an annual capacity of 11.5Mt and a 15 year life.

The feasibility is expected to be completed this year with production starting in 2012.

According to Firestone, the FTP is an integrated production unit that will remove overburden using a dredge and treat diamondiferous gravel using a floating treatment plant in a single synchronous operation.  This will result in  lower operating costs than using conventional earth moving equipment and fixed treatment plans located away from the mining area. 

Philip Kenny, Firestone’s chief executive said: “This project follows the selection of Firestone by Debswana in 2009 for a toll treatment tailings processing project at the Jwaneng Mine in Botswana and represents a further opportunity for the Company to supplement cash flow from our own mining operations at BK11 in Botswana with cash flow from long term, low risk toll treatment projects.”

Firestone is busy developing the BK11 kimberlite project in Botswana.

In March 2009 the Company announced an inferred resource of 12Mt containing approximately 830,000ct with an overall modelled value of US$123/ct.  In July 2009 the modelled value had increased to US$135/ct. The project will process about 1.5Mt/y.