Kimberley Diamonds Ltd. recently announced that the Botswana Department of Environmental Affairs has given its approval and transferred the previously approved Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) from DiamondEx Botswana, Lerala’s previous owner, to Kimberley Diamond’s subsidiary,  Lerala Diamond Mines Limited. 

The transfer of this existing EIA permits KDL to undertake the planned upgrade of the plant,  site infrastructure and the tailings storage facilities at the Lerala Diamond Mine, the company said.

Before restarting operations however, Kimberley Diamonds was directed to undertake a revision of  the existing EIA and Environmental Management Plan. Towards this, the company said, it had  undertaken and completed a number of specialist environmental studies. A final report would be submitted sometime towards the end of January 2015.  After obtaining the necessary clearances post this, the Lerala Diamond Mine will re-open  and commence production in mid-2015, as scheduled.