Nyota Minerals Regulatory News (NYO)

24 Jan 2006 09:38

Dwyka Diamonds Limited24 January 2006 DWYKA DIAMONDS LIMITED TECHNICALLY ENHANCED DIAMOND TAILINGS RETREATMENT PLANT NEAR COMPLETION HIGHLIGHTS • Diamond tailings retreatment plant construction close to completion • Additional design features added to increase potential throughput and recovery rates • Processing on track to commence first week in March Dwyka Diamonds Limited ("Dwyka" or "the Company"), the AIM and ASX listeddiamond producer and project developer, today announces that the plant for theretreatment of De Beers' tailings, currently under construction in Kimberley,South Africa, is due to commence production in March of this year. Improvements to the original plant design are taking place with the installationof higher capacity components in some areas to ensure throughput targets are metcomfortably, and can be exceeded if required. The recovery section of the planthas also been enhanced. The modifications have made minimal impact on thecapital requirements and the plant is now scheduled to ramp up to 50,000 tonnesper month of feed in the first week of March. All additional components havebeen delivered to the plant site and are in the process of being installed. The De Beers mine dumps to be treated De Beers commenced mining at Kimberley in 1888 with initial operations resultingin what is considered to be the largest hand dug excavation in the world - the"Big Hole". De Beers operations have continued at Kimberley since that timeresulting in vast mine dumps. The material processed by De Beers and finallystockpiled in the mine dumps has been subjected to various types of processing.A large proportion of the material has only been subjected to relatively coarsecrushing resulting in inefficient liberation of the diamonds, a large proportionof which remain in the stockpiled material. These stockpiles, established over100 years of mining, are a valuable resource and are the focus of the processingagreement with De Beers. Dwyka has a 40% interest in the processing enterprise which has been funded by acombination of debt and equity. Under the terms of the agreement with De Beers,diamond grades are guaranteed. Commenting today Melissa Sturgess, Executive Chairman of Dwyka, said "One ofDwyka's strengths in diamond processing is to ensure that projects run atoptimum levels. After a careful assessment of the tailings plant, several areaswere identified in which production could be enhanced, with minimal additionalexpenditure. The additional efforts have the potential to significantly increasethe returns of this project for Dwyka's shareholders." For further information please contact: In Australia: In United Kingdom:Adrian Griffin, Melissa Sturgess Laurence Read/ Leesa PetersDwyka Diamonds Limited Conduit PR(+618) 9324 2955 (+44) 20 7429 6605/ (+44) 7979 955 923 Or visit: http://www.dwykadiamonds.com/ This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange