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Lesotho
Liqhobong Mine

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 Location:
114 km NE from Maseru, Lesotho

  Regional Office:
5th Floor, Pension House Constitution Road
Maseru West
Lesotho
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  • Overview
  • Owners
  • Geology
  • Mining
  • Processing
  • Production
  • Reserves
  • Costs & Financials
  • Personnel
  • Filings & News

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Overview

StageProduction
Mine TypeOpen Pit
Commodities
  • Diamond
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start...
Mine Life2051
Firestone has successfully resumed operations at the Liqhobong Mine after a two-and-a-half-year care and maintenance period. Continuous operations commenced from 1 October 2022. First blast of fresh ore took place on 8 October 2022.


Owners

Source: p. 1,2
CompanyInterestOwnership
Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho 25 % Indirect
Firestone Diamonds plc 75 % Indirect
Liqhobong Mining Development Company (Pty) Ltd. (operator) 100 % Direct
Liqhobong mine is operated by Liqhobong Mining Development Company (Proprietary) Limited ('LMDC'), which is 75% owned by Firestone Diamonds and 25% owned by the Government of Lesotho.

Contractors

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Deposit Type

  • Kimberlite


Summary:

The Liqhobong Mine lease area contains a cluster of at least five diamondiferous kimberlite bodies; namely the Main Pipe, Satellite Pipe, Discovery Blow, the Blow and a NW-SE striking dyke that is traceable from the perimeters of both the Main and Satellite Pipes. The surface areas of these pipes and blows are ~8.5 hectares, 1.6 hectares, 0.15 hectares and 0.1m hectares respectively. All the currently known five diamondiferous kimberlites of the Liqhobong cluster are within a strike length of at least 2.5 km (Leroux, 2010). Both blows and the Satellite Pipe are generously endowed with kimberlite indicator minerals (KIMs) occurring as xenocrysts. The main pipe is comparatively less enriched in the kimberlite indicator minerals but has abundant olivine macrocrysts and mantle xenoliths, the latter which commonly bear the KIMs.


Mining Methods

  • Truck & Shovel / Loader


Summary:

The latest 7-year mine plan (2022) assumes the recovery of 5.243 Mcts from the treatment of 22.777 Mt of ore both from the Indicated and Inferred Resource categories. Approximately 78% of the planned recovered carats is derived from the Indicated Resource category and can be converted to Probable Reserve. The latest mine plan contemplates the mining of the remainder of cut 1 and cut 2 north and south. Diamond prices will dictate the feasibility of including a cut 3 in future mine plans.

Description (2015)
The mining process at LMDC will be a conventional open-pit operation consisting of drill, blast, load and haul activities which will be carried out by a mining contractor. The pit design has been based on a split shell concept largely to defer waste stripping as much as possible while at the same time providing a double ramp system to mitigate the risk of ramp failure. The pit layout incorporates a concentric cut 1 which has been designed around the existing exposed pit bottom. Four successive split shell cuts follow, namely Cut 2 South, Cut 2 North, Cut 3 South and Cut 3 North. Each split shell cut will have its own ramp system, however once the north cut meets up with its respective south cut, the ramps join to become a concentric system.

Haul roads in the pit have been designed at a width of 25m and will be at a gradient of 1:10. Ramp widths in the kimberlite zones will be 17m.

The mining contractor will provide all fleet and will ca ........


Crushing and Grinding
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Processing

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Summary:

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Production:

CommodityUnits20232020201920182017
Diamond carats  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required835,832365,891
Subscription required - Subscription is required.

Operational Metrics:

Metrics20232022202020192018
Ore tonnes mined  ......  Subscription required2,611,898 t3,664,315 t3,802,568 t
Waste  ......  Subscription required3,293,528 t4,442,926 t2,910,636 t
Total tonnes mined  ......  Subscription required5,905,426 t8,107,241 t6,713,204 t
Tonnes processed  ......  Subscription required2.6 Mt3.7 Mt3.8 Mt
Hourly processing capacity  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required500 t
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Reserves at June 30, 2021:
The Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves as at 30th June 2022 at Liqhobong mine are unchanged from 30th June 2021.

Diamond Reserve is stated at a bottom cut-off of 1.25mm slotted screen panels.
Diamond Resource is stated at a bottom cut-off using 1.25mm slotted screen panels.

CategoryTonnage CommodityGradeContained carats
Probable 18.186 Mt Diamond 23 cpht 4.114 M carats
Proven & Probable 18.186 Mt Diamond 23 cpht 4.114 M carats
Indicated 22.898 Mt Diamond 22 cpht 5.082 M carats
Inferred 48.399 Mt Diamond 24 cpht 11.423 M carats
Total Resource 71.297 Mt Diamond 23 cpht 16.505 M carats

Operating Costs:

Units2020201920182017
Direct operating costs ($/t milled) USD 9.36  10.1  
Total operating costs ($/t milled) USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required
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Financials:

Units202320202019201820172016
Capital expenditures M USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required 2   30.9   68.2  
Revenue M USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required 62.2   27.8  
Gross profit M USD  ......  Subscription required  ......  Subscription required 5.1  
After-tax Income M USD  ......  Subscription required -4.5   -139.2  
EBIT M USD  ......  Subscription required -1.1   -119.5  
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Water Supply
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Heavy Mobile Equipment:

Mine Management:

Job TitleNameProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Oct 17, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Oct 17, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Oct 17, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Oct 17, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Oct 17, 2023
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Staff:

Total WorkforceYear
Subscription required 2019
Subscription required 2017

Corporate Filings & Presentations:

DocumentYear
Quarterly Report 2023
Annual Report 2022
Quarterly Report 2022
................................... Subscription required 2021
................................... Subscription required 2020
................................... Subscription required 2019
................................... Subscription required 2019
Annual Report 2018
Corporate Presentation 2018
Annual Report 2017
Corporate Presentation 2017
Technical Report 2015
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