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Exploration and Development Property: Niewejaarskraal
Background:
The Niewejaarskraal project is located on the south bank of the Orange River in the Herbert district of the Northern Cape Province, some 57 km southwest of Douglas and some 170 km from Kimberley. The property is a past producer that was acquired by Rockwell in 2009. It is held 74% by Rockwell and 26% by the Black Economic Empowerment partner.
There is an existing processing plant on Niewejaarskraal which was in operation until the mine was put on care and maintenance in 2007, but it will need to be completely re-furbished and upgraded prior to re-commissioning. The current plan, given that Rockwell is currently in the process of re-opening the Wouterspan and Tirisano mines, is for the Niewejaarskraal mine to remain on care and maintenance for the period to fiscal 2013.
The proposed new processing plant would be a high-volume, low-cost plant,
specifically designed to deal with the peculiarities of the gravels being
processed The plant is planned to be automated to the extent that optimal
production, with minimal downtime and maintenance can be attained.
Geological setting and mineralization:
Processing plant:
| Old Plant |
New Plant |
| ±40,000 m³ per month |
340,000 m³ per month |
| 336 carats per month |
2,700 carats per month |
| 80tph DMS |
8 x 18ft Pans |
Mineral resource/reserve estimates:
Area |
Gravel
Type |
Resource
Classification |
Volume
(cubic metres) |
Grade
(carats/100 cubic metres) |
Value
(US$/carat) |
| Terrace A |
Fluvial-alluvial
Rooikoppie |
Inferred |
11,831,500
1,840,000 |
0.84 |
2,029 |
| Terrace B |
Fluvial-alluvial
Rooikoppie |
Inferred |
5,990,000
969,000 |
0.84 |
2,029 |
| Total |
|
Inferred |
20,630,500 |
0.84 |
2,029 |
Work done to date on the adjacent Saxendrift mine indicate that the entire sedimentary profile should be excavated and processed -- although this has the effect of decreasing the overall recovered grade, the life of mine is significantly increased. Excavation of the gravel is not planned to change from the standard techniques applied on all of Rockwell's alluvial diamond mines (excavation by hydraulic excavator followed by transport of gravel to the plant site in dump trucks).
Ongoing review and updating of resources based on production will be done by existing Rockwell staff and the independent qualified person, as necessary. Since Rockwell has large amounts of existing drill data that it acquired from TransHex, much of which still requires on-going and further rigorous analysis and integration with mining results, no new drilling programs have been planned for this property for the period 2012. Before any new drilling is planned and budgeted for on Niewejaarskraal, Rockwell staff will complete supplementary field work, geological mapping, and internal re-interpretation of existing data. No additional costs have been budgeted for 2012 for this exercise as it will take place within Rockwell's existing budgets.
The current plan is for the Niewejaarskraal mine to remain on care and maintenance until fiscal 2013, after the Wouterspan project has been re-commissioned.
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