DFI Mining Ship Sets Sail

Roger Daniel, Director of Operations of Diamond Fields International (DFI) says that the MV Anya, a diamond-mining vessel owned by DFI's contract miner, Gemfarm, has set sail towards DFI's marine concessions near Luderitz, Namibia.

The MV Anya, equipped with dual 24-inch airlift mining systems, is scheduled to arrive at DFI's concession areas within five days and the mining program will commence shortly thereafter.

"We are excited about resuming mining," Daniel said. "The MV Anya's dual 24-inch airlift systems have the capacity to cover 188 percent more ground in the same amount of time as the single 20-inch airlift system that the MV Namakwa used in the DFI-Trans Hex Joint Venture. We expect the MV Anya to be much more efficient than the Namakwa in mining our concessions."

On July 1 of this year DFI announced that Trans Hex has suspended mining operations at its Marshall Fork deposit and has also withdrawn the MV Namakwa mining vessel. Trans Hex has indicated that the main reason for the suspension of operations and the withdrawal of the vessel were its inability to meet the performance conditions stipulated in the joint venture agreement.