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Richland begins production at sapphire mine
The mining company officially has started mining at its Capricorn mine in Queensland, Australia, which is producing both traditional blue as well as yellow and green sapphires.
Mining of Open-pit 1, located within the defined JORC Resource, now is underway, with sapphire-bearing ore passing through the Capricorn processing plant. The initial mining phase is being conducted in an area of about one acre, in the region where the infill drilling (the process of adding new wells to an existing field to test recovery methods) was conducted.
The company said that it will slowly ramp up production to reach the full scale of capacity over the following months.
While large quantities of blue sapphires have been discovered at the site so far, Capricorn also has produced yellow and green material as well.
Richland said that it expects its first sapphire sales to be in late June, coinciding with the Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair.
The Capricorn sapphire mine is one of the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere, according to Richland, and capable of treating up to 200 loose cubic meters per hour. It consists of two new mining leases including 490 hectares, and is 100 percent owned by Richland.
The mine is an important expansion for Richland as it moves away from Tanzania and tanzanite mining into other colored stone markets, the company said.
Last fall, Richland sold off its Tanzanite One mining and beneficiation business as well as tsavorite license interests in Tanzania to Sky Associates Group Limited for approximately $5 million. Soon after it closed all retail outlets across the country, as Sky declined to purchase them as part of the deal.
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