Lonrho discovers 61 carat diamond

Australian based diamond exploration and development company Lonrho Mining Limited had discovered an exceptional 61.30 carat stone at its Schmidtsdrift Mine located in the Republic of South Africa.

The Schmidtsdrift mine – owned by Lonrho Mining (80%) and the Schmidtsdrift Communal Property Association (20%) – comprises six contiguous farms along the western bank of the Vaal River, with a combined area of 320km².

Since the Company commenced operations in April 2006 up to 30 April 2008, the Schmidtsdrift mine has produced 16,395 carats of diamonds from 3,255,969 tonnes at an average grade of 0.5 carats per hundred tons. The production included 328 stones in excess of 5 carats in size, including a rare 235 carat stone, two 66 carat stones and 25 stones between 15 and 50 carats in size.

The latest discovery follows an extensive organizational restructuring at the Schmidtsdrift Mine.

Commenting on the discovery, Chief Executive Officer of Lonrho Mining, Charles Mostert said, this diamond is of extremely high quality and is expected to achieve a very high value. We are confident that the recently completed operational review at the Schmidtsdrift mine will continue to have a positive effect and hopefully yield further diamonds of this quality.

Source : http://www.lonrhomining.com/

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