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Meet Australia’s latest successful diamond producer. Majestic Resources NL is Australia’s latest successful diamond producer, based on operations it has acquired and developed in South Africa. The company has focused on the Kimberley region, historically the richest diamond province in the world and which initially provided the springboard for the world’s biggest diamond miner, De Beers. In November, 2000 Majestic brought on-stream the rich alluvial Riet River diamond mine. Riet River has to date yielded some of the biggest gem diamonds recovered by an Australian company, including stones of 83, 53, 30 and 20 carats, all attracting premium prices at sale. At the time of going to press, Majestic was furthering its evolution to kimberlite diamond production through evaluating the So Ver and Messina diamond mines, respectively 75km and 85km north of Kimberley. The company aims to lift production from So Ver from 500 carats a month to 1500 carats a month, a target which appeared attainable through yielded grade from So Ver of around 9 carats per 100 tonnes. Messina has been in operation since 1954 and has consistently produced around 20,000 carats a year, more than 90% of this being gem quality. Majestic has full production and sales records for Messina and was conducting a full due-diligence study on the mine at the time of press, with a decision due by April 2002. At 20,000 carats a year, Messina is forecast to produce a net profit of A$3.5m to A$4m a year over at least a 10 year mine life. The mine currently operates to a 630-metre depth through three shafts, and Majestic is confident the ore body extends to at least 1000 metres. Majestic’s management was restructured in July 2001, to reflect its move from alluvial to kimberlite operations. The Chairman is Dr Denis Worrall, the former South African ambassador to both Australia and the United Kingdom. The Managing Director, Mr Charles Mostert, spent almost 20 years with Anglo Gold. The exploration manager, Mr Manfred Marx, is a world-renowned diamond geologist, directly responsible for one of De Beers’ major diamond finds. The company’s mission statement is to create wealth for shareholders through profitable diamond mining operations, and to achieve that goal it has targeted, in particular, mines such as Messina and So Ver which have a proven record of production. Website: |
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