Dominion Predicts 11% Increase in Production at Diavik Mine

Dominion Diamond Corporation has provided a revision to its forecast for the Diavik diamond mine for 2013 showing an 11-percent increase in output.

The company, formerly called Harry Winston Diamond Corp, predicts output of around 6.6 million carats from the mining of about 1.6 million tonnes of ore and the processing of in the region of 2.0 million tonnes of material from both mining and stockpiles.

Dominion, which owns 40 percent of the Diavik mine, said the increase from the earlier plan relates primarily to the processing of more stockpiled ore this year. The company said the revision is subject to further adjustment at the end of the second quarter.

The firm added that a new mine plan and budget for the Ekati diamond mine, which is located in Canada’s NorthWest Territories, for the upcoming operating period is under review.

Dominion forecasts that its rough diamond sales for fiscal year 2014 will come to around $730 million based on today’s prices of rough diamonds. The firm says $365 million worth of goods will be produced each from its share of Diavik and from its 80 percent holding in Ekati, also in the NorthWest Territories.

The fiscal 2014 sales for the Diavik mine includes around $25 million from sales of goods available as of January 31, and from the Ekati mine about $70 million from opening acquisition stock expected to be sold towards the end of fiscal 2014.

The model that had been included with the reserves and resource statement that was issued on April 24, forecast, as revenue for the period from January 1 to June 30, approximately $135 million from the sale of all inventory on hand during that period.