Firestone Diamonds plc has announced that work on the Liqhobong Diamond Mine project was over 70% complete by the end of March 2016 and work is on track for initial production to commence by Q4 2016. The mine is owned 75% by Firestone and 25% by the Government of Lesotho.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Company said that quite a few project items are either complete or 98% complete. These include 

o   Residues Storage Facility \\ starter wall

o   Design and Engineering

o   Procurement

o   Earthworks

o   Structural Steel Fabrication

The Company said that its activities were helped by the granting of further work permits by the Government of Lesotho and the favourable weather conditions experienced at site in recent months.

Throughout Liqhobong's development Firestone has enforced a rigorous safety policy and has continued to maintain its lost time injury free record, with approximately 2.2 million man hours worked as at the end of March 2016.

Operational readiness, led by the Project team, is well underway and the team's main focus during this quarter was contract placement and staff recruitment.

Significantly, the Project also remains within the original US$185.4 million budget and as at 31 March 2016, ZAR1.5 billion (US$129.9 million) or 70% had been spent on the Project against the revised capital budget of ZAR2.1 billion.

The cash on hand at the end of March 2016 was US$14.8 million and the Company also had US$47.0 million available pursuant to the ABSA debt facility, resulting in forecast headroom available to the Company of approximately US$9.0 million as at the end of December 2016.

Stuart Brown, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Firestone has achieved another strong quarter of progress at Liqhobong, which, as at 31 March 2016, was 72% complete and on track for initial production in Q4 2016.

Firestone remains fully funded to completion of the Project, production ramp up and the first sale of its Liqhobong diamonds and I look forward to providing further updates as we move towards project commissioning in Q4."

Pic caption: Work in progress at Liqhobong diamond mine