Page 14 - pd279-Feb20-mag-web_Neat

SITE VISIT

Gibb River to keep the

diamonds flowing

ust as the stars sprinkle the sky in West- Ellendale’s recent history has been sto- Gibb River Diamonds Ltd executive chair-
Jern Australia’s far north, the sparkle in ried and the mine gates at Rio Tinto Ltd’s man Jim Richards told Paydirt.
the dirt has been provided by the precious Argyle will shut later this year, bringing an Subject to raising $2.5 million or more,
stones scattered through the region. end to a chapter of diamond mining in Aus- Gibb will be ready to start producing at the
Diamonds from Argyle and Ellendale tralia. Blina alluvial diamond project in West Kim-
are revered the world over for their rare “I believe when they are gone, they are berley.
cuts and colours unlike any other. gone and there is not even another pro- Funding will allow Gibb four months of
For almost 40 years Argyle has been the ducer on the horizon apart from us. We bulk sampling ahead of trial mining.
world’s only source of rare pink diamonds, are the only producer I am aware of that is “From that point we can be cash posi-
while fancy yellow diamonds from Ellen- permitted and capable of production and tive within four months of setting up a plant
dale were once the stones of choice for providing that we get our capital, we will be and machinery. We are not trying to be the
Tiffany & Co. Australia’s only producing diamond mine,” biggest diamond miner, but we are trying

Seth Blume with Gibb executive chairman Jim Richards at
Ellendale. A haul ramp to the water still exists which could provide
access for a future dredging operation target

Page 14 FeBRUaRY 2020 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT