Burgundy takes first steps in Ellendale development

The mine is located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and has produced more than half of the world’s fancy yellow diamonds.

The first stage of development will include trenching and other sampling of the Blina alluvial deposits which make up one part of the Ellendale project.

This will be followed by an assessment of the various sources for production, as well as the fabrication of a bulk sampling process plant, which has already been designed and funded with the help of engineering company Imilingo Mineral Processing in South Africa.

Burgundy is planning to undertake bulk sampling once the plant is commissioned, followed by trial mining.

In March, Burgundy bought the mine from Gibb River Diamonds for $6.7 million in cash, 16 million Burgundy shares and 1.5 per cent revenue royalty.

Burgundy managing director Peter Ravenscroft said the Ellendale project was important for the company’s future growth.

“We are very pleased to complete the option deal on Ellendale and look forward to starting geological and sampling activities there very soon,” Ravenscroft said.

“We believe this project is an ideal opportunity to fuel our broad strategy in the longer term.”

The company has anticipated that Ellendale’s stockpiles, unworked deposits, and unexplored deposits will allow the company to reach production within two years.

Burgundy also saw exploration activities progress positively at the Naujaat project in Nunavut, Canada during the March quarter.

The company expects to be bulk sampling up to 2000 tonnes by June 2021, according to Ravenscroft.

“It is pleasing to progress exploration activity after the delays introduced by COVID-19 during 2020,” Ravenscroft said.

“We are excited to finally be able to start the bulk sampling at Naujaat next quarter and are optimistic that continued evaluation of our broad portfolio of projects in Botswana will start rapidly to yield positive results.”