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RAPAPORT... Dominion Diamond Corporation updated its reserves and resources statement on a 100 percent basis for the Diavik mine, adding an additional 3.9 million tonnes of ore that contained approximately 13 million carats. As of December 31, Diavik had 18.1 million tonnes of proven and probable mineral reserves, containing 53.3 million carats of diamonds -- up from 46.8 million carats one year earlier. At the A-21 pipe, 3.7 million tonnes containing 10 million carats has been promoted to proven reserve material. In addition, at the A-154 North pipe, 0.24 million tonnes of inferred resources "at depth" were promoted to probable mineral reserve status. Within the remaining reserve at the A-154 North pipe, 0.5 million tonnes were promoted from probable reserve to proven reserve, supported by sampling. In addition to current reserves, Dominion noted there are 3.1 million tonnes of inferred resource, of which 2.4 million tonnes (in the aggregate) are distributed among the lower parts of each of A-154 South, A-418 and A-154 North. However, the company stated that inferred mineral resources are considered "too geologically speculative" to be economically sound and categorized as mineral reserves; plus, there is no certainty that these will be mined. The Diavik processing plant has a potential capacity to process over 2 million tonnes a year. To supplement mined ore in calendar 2015, Diavik plans to continue processing old coarse ore rejects material (COR). This year, the company intends to produced 290,000 carats from COR, after which there is no further plans to process COR. Price models, based on Dominion diamond sales in January, were updated as follows: A-154 South at $135 per carat, A-154 North at $180 per carat, A-418 at $95 per carat, A-21 at $135 per carat and COR at $45 per carat.
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