Namdeb In For Long Diamond Hall, Increases Pace

Diamond company Namdeb announced that it is increasing both the pace of its production at a diamond project in Namibia and the length of time it plans to mine there, Bloomberg reports. Namdeb said that it would ramp up diamond mining at its Elizabeth Bay open-cast operation by 32%, and that it would continue to work there beyond the previously-decided-upon end-date of 2015.

Elizabeth Bay produced 205,000 carats of rough diamonds for Namdeb in 2012, and it expects to top that figure by at least 65,000 carats in 2013, according to Namdeb spokesperson Pauling Thomas. The year that follows should be even more productive if the Red Area Complex, the name given by Namdeb to its $15 million recovery and sorting facility currently under construction, is completed on schedule by the end of the current calendar year.

Namdeb is jointly owned by De Beers and the government of Namibia, and in 2012 produced 1.67 million carats in total.

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