In the past several years, Batla’s subsidiaries have purchased and developed mining operations and are managing these operations and sales of diamonds, both directly and via tenders in Antwerp.
Batla has two active diamond projects:
Letšeng Mine – contract mining
Kolo Mine – trial phase
Resource: Superkolong, SA
February 2013
El Nino Mining creates 50/50 SPV with Emu NL (Australia) to purchase Superkolong
May 2014
Batla buys out Emu's 50% share.
Batla owns 100% of Superkolong Diamond Operations
August 2015
Batla announced the sale of the 30.8 carat "Kimberley Purple" diamond. The diamond was shown on tender in New York and Antwerp. The winning bid was for $5.6m.
August 2014
Batla buys additional 9% of KMF and increases production to 200k+ tons per month
September 2015
Batla announced the recovery of a special 128 carat fancy yellow diamond. It will go on tender in November and will be shown in New York, Israel and Antwerp.
- Current plant volumes process 200k+ tons/month
- Further plant upgrades to increase capacity to 240k+ tons/month
- Three-year wage deal helps to secure stable work force (2017)
- Exploring potential to install capacity to 300k+ tons/month (dependent on demand)
- Target 108.000 carats per annum
Production/recovery - Superkolong
Superkolong Diamond Operatioins, Kimberley SA
| Year ending 31 March 2014 | Year ending 31 March 2015 | |
| Number of tons | 1.452.562 | 2.221.741 |
| Carats | 75.715 | 110.429 |
| Carats / 100 tons | 5.21 | 4.97 |
Contract: Letšeng Mine, Lesotho
2001
Alluvial Ventures (AV) entered into contract with Letšeng Mine in Lesotho
Feb 2011
Upgraded Letšeng plant with 2 new crushers to handle hard kimberlite
Sept 2011
Reached full production, 100k tons of hard kimberlite per month
CY 2011
Processed 1.08 million tons of ore, recovered 11,238 carats
CY 2014
Processed 988.908 tons of ore, recovered 10,221 carats
Goals:
- Complete contract with Letšeng (year-end 2015)
- Maintain production at a minimum of 90K tons/month
- Improve operational efficiencies and reduce costs
Production/recovery - Letšeng
| Letšeng Mine, Lesotho | Year ending 31 March 2013 | Year ending 31 March 2014 | Year ending 31 March 2015 |
| Number of tons | 1.025.901 | 988.908 | 994.584 |
| Carats | 10.153 | 10.221 | 10.263 |
| Carats / 100 tons | 0.99 | 1.03 | 1.03 |
Resource: Kolo Mine, Lesotho
- Mining lease ontained July 2011. Estimated resource of:
- 1.3 million tons kimberlite
- 110.000 carats
- Extended issues regarding legal ownership by previous leaseholders. Lesotho Appeals Court declared free-and-clear ownership in April 2013.
- Site development in progress to facilitate the beginning of trial mining as soon as possible.
Kolo Mine Phased Development
Phase 1
Phase 1
2014-2015 CAPEX & OPEX estimate at $750K
Kolo
Set up processing
Conduct 60K tons pre-mining test
Sekameng
Complete 50K tons bulk sample to verify existence, quality and value of diamonds
Phase 2
Phase 2
2016-2017 CAPEX est. $2Mil OPEX est. $8/ton
Kolo
Make capital investments to increase capabilities and process 50K tons/month
Sekameng
Process a larger bulk sample of 200K tons