Kimberley Diamonds has announced that it is injecting $14.6 million into its Lerala diamond mine in Botswana, less than three weeks after it abruptly closed its Ellendale mine with its workers left out pocket.
The money will be spent on upgrades and upfront capital to bring the project into full operation.
South African mining services company Consultmet will be paid around $9.83 million to perform modifications to the project’s plant.
Design and engineering work for the upgrade had been completed by Consultmet in December last year, but the work could not proceed until Kimberley Diamonds could produce the funds required.
On June 30 the company announced that it had received a $5 million loan from Zheijiang Huitong Auction Co, with another $5 million in loans to come from the lender later in the year.
That announcement came a day before its subsidiary Kimberley Diamond Company was put into administration.
Ellendale workers reportedly remain unpaid for the final month of operations at the site, and several key contractors have similarly reported arrears.
The company had said in April that it expected to continue Ellendale’s operations, but on July 1 announced the closure saying that the quality of diamonds produced and prices garnered at a recent Antwerp auction were both significantly lower than expected.
Full-scale production operations are predicted to commence at Lerala in February next year.
