Diamond firm to fund Lesotho project via AIM

摘要

A NEW diamond developer; Lesotho Diamond Corp (LDC), plans to list its shares on London's Alternative Investment Market by the end of the September quarter of this year; raising up to 30 million pounds via a public offering at the same time. LDC, formed last October; is currently in the process of raising 5 million pounds in a private placing of its currently unlisted shares, to add to a 1.6 million pounds placing complete in March. According to LDC's chief executive, Alan Smith, these funds will be sufficient to establish a first phase of operations on the company's Kao diamond pipe in the landlocked southern African Kingdom of Lesotho. Speaking to Mining Journal this week, Mr Smith, formerly head of South African operations for AngloGold Ltd, said the first phase would involve processing 2.3 Mt/y of ore. Subsequent stages of similar size would be funded from cash flow, or using debt if available on acceptable terms, to raise ultimate throughput to around 9 Mt/y.