afrol News, 23 January - The Canada-based company Diamond Fields has announced the temporary suspension of its marine diamond mining operations in Namibia because of extra costs attributed to the strong South African Rand. Marine diamond mining is turning into the principal source of Namibian diamonds as onshore sources get scarce.

Diamond Fields President and Chief Executive Officer, Gregg Sedun, today announced results of sales of diamonds from the company's Lüderitz sea diamond concession off the coast of Namibia, as well as "the temporary suspension of its marine mining operation."

- Increased operating costs resulting from the strength of the South African Rand has temporarily impaired the profitability of the marine diamond contractors resulting in a suspension of marine operations, said Mr Sedun.

While Diamond Fields was already investigating "new production options," additional exploration and sampling was to be conducted "to add resources and value to the 1,000,000 carat Namibian marine diamond project," according to the company's leader.

The decision to suspend the marine mining operations had been taken in conjunction with Lazig and Gemfarm, the owner and operator of the marine mining vessel MV Anya. It had become necessary because the partners' operating costs are in Rand "while diamond revenue and daily hire rate paid to the contractor are denominated in US Dollars."

Over the course of the past year the Rand has appreciated significantly relative to the US Dollar impairing the contractor's margins. The Namibian Dollar is glued to the South African Rand.

- We believe it is prudent to suspend current mining operations while we work with Lazig and others to explore cost-effective production options including new technology, said Roger Daniel, Diamond Fields' Operations Director, in a statement today.

He added that, "over the short term, Diamond Fields International will focus on a sampling program to expand the diamond resource in the license area and significantly increase the value to the project."

The company today also announced that marine diamonds sales during December 2003 and January 2004 by the its marketing partner Diamond Tenders Belgium had totalled 6,292 carats and secured an average price of US$ 145.82 per carat.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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