Rio Tinto advances the development of India’s next diamond mine
02/11/2009
Rio Tinto has set up a sample processing plant at the site of its Bunder Project in India to help further assess the value and grade of the Bunder diamond deposit.
Stefanie Loader, project director of the Bunder Project, explained that the sample processing plant at Bunder, which costs approximately US$7 million, is capable of processing at 10 tonnes per hour.
The initial results from the new sample processing plant are expected by the end of 2009. The next phase of evaluation of the Bunder Project will involve engineering studies and the social and environmental impacts of a diamond mine. These studies will take two to three years to complete. Rio Tinto estimates the total investment to develop a mine at Bunder Project to be at least US$468.8 million.
The Bunder Project, in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, comprises a cluster of eight lamproites and is Rio Tinto’s most advanced diamond project. A study released in March 2009 identified the presence of an inferred resource of 37 million tonnes at a grade of 0.7 carat per tonne.
