Merlin Diamonds Limited announced recently that the Tomra X-Ray Transmission Machine it had acquired has been delivered to the mine site.

Merlin, which is commissioning the machine  in December, hopes that by  using this new sorting technology, it will be able to recover larger diamonds   than was previously possible. The machine will also be able to   recover   “low luminescing diamonds”.

The Company plans to use “available ore” for the commissioning period, and reports say that “any contained large diamonds up to 40 millimetres in size will be recovered”.

Earlier, it was not possible to recover large  diamonds as the equipment at hand was not sophisticated enough to do so. 

Reports also indicate that  the mine has access to over 150,000 tons of ore   that “can be processed for several months without significant mining costs”.

The Merlin Diamond Mine in Australia’s Northernn Territory was earlier known for its large, high value  diamonds and Australia’s largest   diamond of 104.73 carats was recovered from here. 

The Company is actively  attempting to extend its exploration to newer areas, to discover new diamond sources.