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Namibian Resources - A diamond in the rough? (NBR)
Tokyo - 22 Nov 2004 16:10
Namibian Resources Plc was incorporated in January 2001 and achieved a listing on the AIM of the London Stock Exchange in March 2004.
The Company, which operates through its 100% owned subsidiary Sonnberg Diamonds (Namibia)(Pty) Limited, holds a contract from NAMDEB Diamond Corporation (Pty) Ltd for the prospecting and mining of diamonds within the Pomona concession in the Luderitz District of Namibia. The concession area covers an area of about 120 square km (12,000 ha), and the Company is authorised by NAMDEB to prospect and mine in certain defined areas within this concession.
Namibian Resources aims to use the funds raised from the listing to increase annual production from the current level of 2,900 carats/year to 7,500 carats and then on to 15,000 carats/year.
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Very difficult to find information on this company as they do not even have a home page, friends of mine feel the annual production levels are greatly under estimated and we could see a huge up side to this company before Christmas 2004. The new equipment they are using looks promising.
http://www.mining-investor.com/
Tokyo - 22 Dec 2004 10:49 - 44 of 94
5. PROCESSING.
5.1 FEED PREPARATION.
The Sonnberg contract states that Sonnberg must process the 8 +1.6 mm fraction of the material mined. On the basis of historical reference and measurements by Sonnberg, approximately 20-25% of the in-place deposit falls within this size range.
The majority of the deposits encountered in the concession are essentially dry. However, in a number of areas in basinal sections of valleys where salt pans exist or where water may pond following rare heavy rainfall events the deposits may be damp and/or have a higher clay content which tends to retain moisture derived from mists and fogs. Such deposits are encountered, inter alia, in Idatal (particularly in the south), lower Scheibetal and Saltztal. Coincidentally, many of the areas where such deposits are found also have above-average diamond sizes and hence correspond with some of the high value deposits.
Dry screening of the majority of the dry deposits is feasible and has been carried out by Sonnberg for much of its work. Periods of rain, however, can result in disruption to production as the damp sand and gravel tends to blind the screens. In normal conditions it may take 1-2 days for the ground to dry out sufficiently for production to restart.
Dry screening, however, cannot effectively be applied to damp ground. A notable demonstration of this is the prospecting results from the high-value Salztal deposit. Initial prospecting by the Deutsch Diamanten Gesellschaft in 1917 recovered 0.016 diamonds per m2 sampled with an average size of 0.32 ct/st. This deposit was re-sampled by CDM in 1956 because the material within the salt pan is damp and treatment of such ground is known to have been problematical to the German prospectors (Corbett, 1986). CDM recovered 0.06 diamonds per m2 sampled with an average size of 0.59 ct/st. The initial prospecting did not seem to indicate the presence of an economic deposit, the re-prospecting demonstrated the presence of a highly attractive one with three times the diamond frequency and almost twice the stone size.
Wet processing of gravels from certain parts of the concession is therefore obligatory. For the remaining parts of the concession it is preferable given that wet screening is normally more efficient in providing good particle discrimination than dry screening.
The prime reason that Sonnberg has preferred dry screening is that the deposits they have been treating have been several kilometres from the coast and they have not been able to invest sufficiently to ensure a regular water supply of sufficient volume to permit all-wet processing. This issue is discussed in Section xx where it is concluded that the installation of a pipeline to feed process plants along Idatal and in southern Hexenkessel and Scheibetal is quite feasible with relatively modest capital investment.
It is therefore considered that it is preferable for Sonnberg to move to all-wet screening of deposits.
5.2 DIAMOND CONCENTRATION.
There are three basic approaches to diamond recovery that may be considered for Sonnbergs operations.
Diamond pan. A diamond pan has a good capital cost to throughput ratio. However, pans are relatively inefficient for diamond recovery, particularly for smaller diamonds that make up a significant part of Sonnbergs resources. Because certain types of deposit cannot be treated effectively by dry screening, Sonnberg used a pan plant when working in lower Idatal. However, this did not function very efficiently as indicated by the diamond content of the resulting tailings dump.
Jigs. Currently Sonnberg has a small plant based around a batch of Pleitz jigs. These have very low capital cost but very limited throughput. Moreover, unless operated carefully (which argues against their use in production situations) they are inefficient at diamond recovery. It is known that at times in the past Sonnberg appears to have been losing as much as 40% and possibly over 50% of the original, recoverable diamonds from certain of their small-stone deposits. In addition to their low capital cost, a major advantage of a Pleitz jig is that it has a very low water requirement. It is possible to adopt a larger type of jig (such as the Dobson) where there is continuous feed. Such jigs, with appropriate handling, are significantly more efficient in diamond recovery than are Pleitz jigs. However, they also require a much greater water supply, which is their principal restriction on use in an environment such as the Pomona concession.
Dense media separation (DMS). DMS units are the norm for all industrial-scale diamond mining operations. They have been established as the most efficient means of diamond recovery, irrespective of diamond size. They also lend themselves to closed-circuit working with additional security benefits.
Of the three possible systems, DMS is undoubtedly most appropriate as, properly operated, it gives the highest rates of diamond recoveries across the full range of diamond sizes.
On the basis of the currently known resources, a production rate of approximately 100,000 m3 (180,000 t) per year would appear realistic for Sonnberg. With an effective 2,400 hours of operation in a year, such a rate of production could be attained by a 20t/hr DMS unit. However, it is considered that two 10 t/hr DMS units would be preferable. This is because two plants would give:
Greater flexibility in operations. The two units can be placed rather closer to individual deposits or groups of deposits, hence reducing overall trucking distances.
Redundancy in equipment provision. With two units there is a much lower possibility of a complete loss of production due to plant down-time.
Increased numbers of blocks in production at once. By locating the units in different parts of the concession, it is more economical to have a number of deposits in production at the same time. With, say, each plant being fed from two separate deposits, four mining faces could be in production simultaneously.
Each DMS unit can be trailer or skid mounted in order to facilitate transport.
Progressive introduction of each unit is preferable from a management point of view.
5.3 DIAMOND RECOVERY.
Currently, Sonnberg recovers its diamonds by open hand-picking from the concentrate produced from the Pleitz jigs. It is contracted to move to a hands-off form of final diamond recovery. In practice this implies the use of an X-ray system of diamond selection from a concentrate feed followed by diamond picking within a sealed glove box.
Use of a Flowsort X-ray diamond separation machine, adapted for use with a sea-water supply is appropriate. The size range of the feed is 8+1.6 mm and a single Flowsort machine is capable of handling this. The capacity of a single machine for the type of material being processed in the Pomona concession is likely to be in the range of 500-1000 kg/hr of concentrate from a DMS. Such a machine has a relatively low power requirement of 3 kVa. A water supply of approximately 15 l/min (900 l/hr) is required.
No direct figures are available for the weight of concentrate from the Pomona deposit, although for the greater portion of the concession, the concentrate is very light. In certain areas a heavier concentrate is observed where there are outcrops of gossanised bedrock. From experience elsewhere, the rate of DMS concentrate production from alluvial deposits with a light concentrate is in the region of 0.5-1.0 kg/100 m3 run-of-mine plant feed. Sonnbergs current planned run-of mine rate of production is 44 m3/hr which would imply a rate of DMS concentrate production of 22-44 kg/hr. This is well within the capacity of a single Flowsort machine.
Product from the X-ray machine should initially be collected in a sealed bin the contents of which can be fed into a glove box for separation of diamonds (which should be placed in a locked container and the remainder of the concentrate which should be placed in a separate, locked container for re-cycling through the X-ray machine.
Use of a single Flowsort machine but two DMS units means that the final diamond recovery site will be located away from one or both of the DMS units.
5.4 EQUIPMENT REQUIRED.
The equipment required for each diamond recovery plant is as follows (Table 6).
Table 6: Equipment required for each diamond recovery plant.
Equipment Capacity Use
DMS unit 10 t/hr Production of diamond-bearing concentrate
Feed preparation unit 40 t/hr Reduction of plant feed to 8+1.6 mm DMS feed
FEL 2 m3 bucket Loading plant, distributing tailings
Generator 75 KVa Power source
Pick up Service plant
In addition to the above, a single Flowsort unit, model XR 2/19W SEA will be required.
5.1 FEED PREPARATION.
The Sonnberg contract states that Sonnberg must process the 8 +1.6 mm fraction of the material mined. On the basis of historical reference and measurements by Sonnberg, approximately 20-25% of the in-place deposit falls within this size range.
The majority of the deposits encountered in the concession are essentially dry. However, in a number of areas in basinal sections of valleys where salt pans exist or where water may pond following rare heavy rainfall events the deposits may be damp and/or have a higher clay content which tends to retain moisture derived from mists and fogs. Such deposits are encountered, inter alia, in Idatal (particularly in the south), lower Scheibetal and Saltztal. Coincidentally, many of the areas where such deposits are found also have above-average diamond sizes and hence correspond with some of the high value deposits.
Dry screening of the majority of the dry deposits is feasible and has been carried out by Sonnberg for much of its work. Periods of rain, however, can result in disruption to production as the damp sand and gravel tends to blind the screens. In normal conditions it may take 1-2 days for the ground to dry out sufficiently for production to restart.
Dry screening, however, cannot effectively be applied to damp ground. A notable demonstration of this is the prospecting results from the high-value Salztal deposit. Initial prospecting by the Deutsch Diamanten Gesellschaft in 1917 recovered 0.016 diamonds per m2 sampled with an average size of 0.32 ct/st. This deposit was re-sampled by CDM in 1956 because the material within the salt pan is damp and treatment of such ground is known to have been problematical to the German prospectors (Corbett, 1986). CDM recovered 0.06 diamonds per m2 sampled with an average size of 0.59 ct/st. The initial prospecting did not seem to indicate the presence of an economic deposit, the re-prospecting demonstrated the presence of a highly attractive one with three times the diamond frequency and almost twice the stone size.
Wet processing of gravels from certain parts of the concession is therefore obligatory. For the remaining parts of the concession it is preferable given that wet screening is normally more efficient in providing good particle discrimination than dry screening.
The prime reason that Sonnberg has preferred dry screening is that the deposits they have been treating have been several kilometres from the coast and they have not been able to invest sufficiently to ensure a regular water supply of sufficient volume to permit all-wet processing. This issue is discussed in Section xx where it is concluded that the installation of a pipeline to feed process plants along Idatal and in southern Hexenkessel and Scheibetal is quite feasible with relatively modest capital investment.
It is therefore considered that it is preferable for Sonnberg to move to all-wet screening of deposits.
5.2 DIAMOND CONCENTRATION.
There are three basic approaches to diamond recovery that may be considered for Sonnbergs operations.
Diamond pan. A diamond pan has a good capital cost to throughput ratio. However, pans are relatively inefficient for diamond recovery, particularly for smaller diamonds that make up a significant part of Sonnbergs resources. Because certain types of deposit cannot be treated effectively by dry screening, Sonnberg used a pan plant when working in lower Idatal. However, this did not function very efficiently as indicated by the diamond content of the resulting tailings dump.
Jigs. Currently Sonnberg has a small plant based around a batch of Pleitz jigs. These have very low capital cost but very limited throughput. Moreover, unless operated carefully (which argues against their use in production situations) they are inefficient at diamond recovery. It is known that at times in the past Sonnberg appears to have been losing as much as 40% and possibly over 50% of the original, recoverable diamonds from certain of their small-stone deposits. In addition to their low capital cost, a major advantage of a Pleitz jig is that it has a very low water requirement. It is possible to adopt a larger type of jig (such as the Dobson) where there is continuous feed. Such jigs, with appropriate handling, are significantly more efficient in diamond recovery than are Pleitz jigs. However, they also require a much greater water supply, which is their principal restriction on use in an environment such as the Pomona concession.
Dense media separation (DMS). DMS units are the norm for all industrial-scale diamond mining operations. They have been established as the most efficient means of diamond recovery, irrespective of diamond size. They also lend themselves to closed-circuit working with additional security benefits.
Of the three possible systems, DMS is undoubtedly most appropriate as, properly operated, it gives the highest rates of diamond recoveries across the full range of diamond sizes.
On the basis of the currently known resources, a production rate of approximately 100,000 m3 (180,000 t) per year would appear realistic for Sonnberg. With an effective 2,400 hours of operation in a year, such a rate of production could be attained by a 20t/hr DMS unit. However, it is considered that two 10 t/hr DMS units would be preferable. This is because two plants would give:
Greater flexibility in operations. The two units can be placed rather closer to individual deposits or groups of deposits, hence reducing overall trucking distances.
Redundancy in equipment provision. With two units there is a much lower possibility of a complete loss of production due to plant down-time.
Increased numbers of blocks in production at once. By locating the units in different parts of the concession, it is more economical to have a number of deposits in production at the same time. With, say, each plant being fed from two separate deposits, four mining faces could be in production simultaneously.
Each DMS unit can be trailer or skid mounted in order to facilitate transport.
Progressive introduction of each unit is preferable from a management point of view.
5.3 DIAMOND RECOVERY.
Currently, Sonnberg recovers its diamonds by open hand-picking from the concentrate produced from the Pleitz jigs. It is contracted to move to a hands-off form of final diamond recovery. In practice this implies the use of an X-ray system of diamond selection from a concentrate feed followed by diamond picking within a sealed glove box.
Use of a Flowsort X-ray diamond separation machine, adapted for use with a sea-water supply is appropriate. The size range of the feed is 8+1.6 mm and a single Flowsort machine is capable of handling this. The capacity of a single machine for the type of material being processed in the Pomona concession is likely to be in the range of 500-1000 kg/hr of concentrate from a DMS. Such a machine has a relatively low power requirement of 3 kVa. A water supply of approximately 15 l/min (900 l/hr) is required.
No direct figures are available for the weight of concentrate from the Pomona deposit, although for the greater portion of the concession, the concentrate is very light. In certain areas a heavier concentrate is observed where there are outcrops of gossanised bedrock. From experience elsewhere, the rate of DMS concentrate production from alluvial deposits with a light concentrate is in the region of 0.5-1.0 kg/100 m3 run-of-mine plant feed. Sonnbergs current planned run-of mine rate of production is 44 m3/hr which would imply a rate of DMS concentrate production of 22-44 kg/hr. This is well within the capacity of a single Flowsort machine.
Product from the X-ray machine should initially be collected in a sealed bin the contents of which can be fed into a glove box for separation of diamonds (which should be placed in a locked container and the remainder of the concentrate which should be placed in a separate, locked container for re-cycling through the X-ray machine.
Use of a single Flowsort machine but two DMS units means that the final diamond recovery site will be located away from one or both of the DMS units.
5.4 EQUIPMENT REQUIRED.
The equipment required for each diamond recovery plant is as follows (Table 6).
Table 6: Equipment required for each diamond recovery plant.
Equipment Capacity Use
DMS unit 10 t/hr Production of diamond-bearing concentrate
Feed preparation unit 40 t/hr Reduction of plant feed to 8+1.6 mm DMS feed
FEL 2 m3 bucket Loading plant, distributing tailings
Generator 75 KVa Power source
Pick up Service plant
In addition to the above, a single Flowsort unit, model XR 2/19W SEA will be required.
watcher - 22 Dec 2004 13:51 - 45 of 94
Well Tokyo and Dexter now that I have sorted out the emotional dumping process of PET and looked into this with the past posts, I can't resist puting a small amount in and see what happens. Hope you both have a good festive drink and take care. Got loads of fingers crossed that things go well,
watcher
watcher
dexter01
- 22 Dec 2004 15:50
- 46 of 94
thanks watcher,
i`m debating whether to put a smallish amount in, reading the report that tokyo posted it does seem relatively straightforward compared to PET. tokyo does put in some excellent research.
are you signing off now for the christmas period?, if you are have a good one.
dexter
i`m debating whether to put a smallish amount in, reading the report that tokyo posted it does seem relatively straightforward compared to PET. tokyo does put in some excellent research.
are you signing off now for the christmas period?, if you are have a good one.
dexter
Tokyo - 22 Dec 2004 16:03 - 47 of 94
Welcome to the NBR club Watcher, thankfully this one is a lot less risker than the previous one. Will try to get through these reports in the next couple of days and report back anything of interest
even got sent another one today
Tokyo
even got sent another one today
Tokyo
dexter01
- 22 Dec 2004 16:08
- 48 of 94
Tokyo,
You should have mail!,
dexter
You should have mail!,
dexter
watcher - 22 Dec 2004 16:21 - 49 of 94
just skimmed over the reports and things look like the NBR are forward planning which means growth to me. It is nice to be in a club that knows the PET history and what can go on (wrong or right) I still have a small holding. My PC is on upto friday, when I shall pop (race) out and get the misses her christmas present. I will take her out christmas eve, for lunch with some mates to talk over the year. Many PET fan's are planning to get together maybe NBR future fans. We wish you both a calm festive break and obviously a prosperous new year.
watcher ps. if all goes well my xmas bonus goes into NBR in jan.
watcher ps. if all goes well my xmas bonus goes into NBR in jan.
sandrew64
- 22 Dec 2004 16:36
- 50 of 94
Well gentlemen, don't want you to think I'm stalking you 'round the bb, but I've joined you in this one as well. Shame about the result across the way, but thems the breaks...appreciate all the work and research you guys put into the thread.
I like the look of this one and Jan isn't long to wait before the work begins. Maybe we can't win them all, but we can certainly win quite a few!
I like the look of this one and Jan isn't long to wait before the work begins. Maybe we can't win them all, but we can certainly win quite a few!
wilbs
- 22 Dec 2004 17:04
- 51 of 94
Its nice to see a few familiar names on this one. Has anyone got an sp as to what it may goto in mind? I think I may reduce my PET holding again and do a Toyko and topup.
wilbs
wilbs
Tokyo - 23 Dec 2004 08:45 - 52 of 94
Wilbs I have a target price of 100-120 pence, and this time I shall not be greedy and let it run, I'll be coming out with profits and top slicing this one.
Tokyo
Tokyo
wilbs
- 23 Dec 2004 08:51
- 53 of 94
Hi Tokyo.
I think we all learned from PET. I was glad I top sliced and came away with a profit but I was reluctant to as greed took over and I wanted to make more money. Im gonna sell the rest of PET today as my belief in them has somewat dropped. Their future looks ok but I can make elsewhere. Gonna topup here & sey.
Are the markets open tomorrow?
wilbs
I think we all learned from PET. I was glad I top sliced and came away with a profit but I was reluctant to as greed took over and I wanted to make more money. Im gonna sell the rest of PET today as my belief in them has somewat dropped. Their future looks ok but I can make elsewhere. Gonna topup here & sey.
Are the markets open tomorrow?
wilbs
Tokyo - 23 Dec 2004 09:15 - 54 of 94
markets are open until 12.30 tomorrow
LSE Timetable
23 Dec Normal
24 Dec Close 12:30
25 Dec Closed
26 Dec Closed
27 Dec Closed
28 Dec Closed
29 Dec Normal
30 Dec Normal
31 Dec Close 12:30
1 Jan Closed
2 Jan Closed
3 Jan Closed
4 Jan Normal
LSE Timetable
23 Dec Normal
24 Dec Close 12:30
25 Dec Closed
26 Dec Closed
27 Dec Closed
28 Dec Closed
29 Dec Normal
30 Dec Normal
31 Dec Close 12:30
1 Jan Closed
2 Jan Closed
3 Jan Closed
4 Jan Normal
wilbs
- 23 Dec 2004 09:23
- 55 of 94
Thanks Toyko
Guess I should of looked on the LSE website.
wilbs
Guess I should of looked on the LSE website.
wilbs
watcher - 23 Dec 2004 11:05 - 56 of 94
looking at that timetable. it's gonna be a real race to get out to buy something special for the wife and have lunch by 1.30 christmas eve. But us men do like a challenge.
watcher
watcher
Tokyo - 24 Dec 2004 08:22 - 57 of 94
Probably a small drop today, as a few people top up with PET shares, I had too sell half my holding here to top up over at PET, afraid the 70,000 sell was mine, but after PET I shall be buying it back, and hopefully a few more. SWALF is across the road hinting at very good news for PET around the corner, and well the guy has not been wrong yet
Beasties - 30 Dec 2004 09:32 - 58 of 94
Bubbling along nicely Tokyo. Welcome on board to recent converts. Good work again Tokyo. As you know I got in shortly after you.
Anyone on here do any forex trading? I know it's off-topic, but just wondered if any of you wise old heads know the best way to go about it. Been doing a lot of research into how to go about it, and it seems to me that spreadbetting is the best way to do it; no tax or commission. What's the catch?? Also the tightest spreads I can find are with deal4free.com; 3 points with EUR/GBP for example. Only problem is their demo software is a pain to use compared to GFTforex.com's which is a delight, but isn't a spreadbetting dealer unfortunately. Any comments appreciated.
Anyone on here do any forex trading? I know it's off-topic, but just wondered if any of you wise old heads know the best way to go about it. Been doing a lot of research into how to go about it, and it seems to me that spreadbetting is the best way to do it; no tax or commission. What's the catch?? Also the tightest spreads I can find are with deal4free.com; 3 points with EUR/GBP for example. Only problem is their demo software is a pain to use compared to GFTforex.com's which is a delight, but isn't a spreadbetting dealer unfortunately. Any comments appreciated.
watcher - 03 Jan 2005 17:28 - 59 of 94
happy new year all.
good report in the times today, 'sparkling effect from aim listed explorers.' NBR mentioned in the artical in respect that explorers are stepping up the hunt for new diamond sources, bouyed by a rapid increase in prices. James Picton a mining analyst at WH Ireland the stock broker has forecast rough diamond demand to increase by 3 bil dollars by 2012.
watcher
good report in the times today, 'sparkling effect from aim listed explorers.' NBR mentioned in the artical in respect that explorers are stepping up the hunt for new diamond sources, bouyed by a rapid increase in prices. James Picton a mining analyst at WH Ireland the stock broker has forecast rough diamond demand to increase by 3 bil dollars by 2012.
watcher
Andy
- 03 Jan 2005 22:36
- 60 of 94
watcher,
The link to the article you refer to is below.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9072-1424514,00.html
The link to the article you refer to is below.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9072-1424514,00.html
Andy
- 09 Jan 2005 17:14
- 61 of 94
I found this comment on the City Equities website.
Saturdays Daily Express reported on Namibian Resources (NBR.L) receiving the green light from the Namibian Government to use its new equipment for commercial production at its diamond project. The shares were up by 4.50p to 50p
Saturdays Daily Express reported on Namibian Resources (NBR.L) receiving the green light from the Namibian Government to use its new equipment for commercial production at its diamond project. The shares were up by 4.50p to 50p
sandrew64
- 11 Jan 2005 15:17
- 62 of 94
Nice rise today....where is everyone?
Andy
- 11 Jan 2005 15:26
- 63 of 94
sandrews64,
just logged in as under the weather today, nice rise here and FDI!
just wish we could find more news about NBR, not much on the web.
just logged in as under the weather today, nice rise here and FDI!
just wish we could find more news about NBR, not much on the web.
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