Last night, at a gala event attended by the shareholder, ministers, diplomats, NGOs, financiers, members of the Sierra Leonean community and media, CEO, Jan Joubert, announced the launch of the OCTÉA Diamond Group. Held at the Group’s flagship Koidu diamond mine in Sierra Leone’s Kono District, 330 km east of the capital Freetown, the occasion included a video address by the country’s President, His Excellency, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma. The event also marked the official opening of the Koidu damond mne’s new 180 t/h processing plant – a key aspect of the Koidu Expansion Project which will boost diamond output from 10,000 ct/month to 45,000 ct/month during the third quarter of this year. This will effectively double diamond exports from Sierra Leone.
“Inspired by our success at Koidu – as well as at our Tonguma project – we undertook a major restructuring exercise towards the end of 2011 to enable the Group to invest in other exploration and development opportunities in Sierra Leone,” said Joubert.
“We chose the name OCTÉA to reflect the quality of the octahedral diamonds characteristic of our diamond deposits in Sierra Leone.”
According to Joubert, four wholly owned subsidiaries of the OCTÉA Diamond Group have been established: OCTÉA Mining, OCTÉA Diamonds, OCTÉA Services and the OCTÉA Foundation. “OCTÉA Mining now owns the mining assets of the group, including the Koidu diamond mine, previously called the Koidu Kimberlite Project, held by Koidu Ltd, which was formerly Koidu Holdings,” said Joubert. “It also includes the Tonguma Project held by Tonguma Ltd. An application for an exploration licence to the east of Koidu has been submitted by newly formed company, Boroma Ltd.”
The shareholder of Koidu Holdings, Beny Steinmetz Group Resources Ltd, (BSGR), has invested over $300 million into Sierra Leone to date, demonstrating its ability to finance and execute complex projects. This includes the $200 million investment in the Koidu Kimberlite Project expansion, as well as the financing of the exploration and pre-feasibility study for the Tonguma project.
“Developing the mine to its current size and capacity has demanded exceptional commitment from management and staff, as well as from government, our community, contractors, suppliers and consultants.” The mine now employs 1,570 permanent staff, of whom 89.8% are Sierra Leoneans.
Resources of over 14 Mt have been delineated at Koidu, giving the operation a five-year open pit phase and a 12-year underground mine life. Mining will focus on two main kimberlite pipes – K1 and K2, as well as kimberlite dyke zones and blows.
“The spectacular quality of our diamonds and the high grades place Koidu amongst the top three highest revenue per tonne kimberlite operations in the world and, together with the positive impacts our operations are having on our local communities and the country, have attracted interest from leading retail jewellery chain, Tiffany & Co., with whom we have entered into an exclusive off-take agreement.” commented Joubert.
“When I look at our sparkling stones, I don’t only see diamonds bringing returns to government and shareholders. I see new schools, books and learning materials, training programmes, more water boreholes, better roads, large-scale commercial agricultural projects, and many other opportunities for us to invest in our community and our employees. These diamonds enable us to finance the development initiatives that are bringing so much good to the people of Kono and the country. Plans are being made to put the proceeds from increased diamond sales into extending the benefits of our development programmes to those in the wider Koidu and Kono communities. As we move forward with our development plans, we are committed to bringing more substantial change to the lives of the people of Sierra Leone.”