Ellendale

The Ellendale diamond mine, located in the West Kimberley Region of Western Australia 120 kilometres east of Derby, is owned and operated by Kimberley Diamonds Company NL, a fully owned subsidiary of Kimberley Diamonds Limited, a company formerly known as Goodrich Resources Ltd. Kimberley Diamonds Limited is a mineral resource, mining and exploration company.

Ellendale Diamond Mine is Famous for its Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamonds

The Ellendale diamond mine, that is 2000 kilometres from Perth, began producing highly valued rough diamonds in mid 2002. It is particularly renown for its fancy vivid yellow diamonds and has a life of mine expectation to at least 2014.

Ellendale Pipe 4 Substantially Increased Production

In the first five years of diamond production the Ellendale mine produced more than 766,000 carats and after the Ellendale Pipe 4 came into line production rose to 378,000 carats a year. Earlier diamonds were being recovered from Pipe 9. Pipe 4 came into production in 2006. In February 2007 the company finished construction of a new 4.4 million tonnes a year plant expansion at Ellendale 4 to cater for the increased processing needs.

Life of Mine Contract to Supply Tiffany Jewellery House With the Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond

The Ellendale diamond mine is a major producer of the highly sought after fancy and vivid yellow diamond, that much so it has a life of mine agreement with Tiffany and Company, the premier jewellery supplier in the world, a United States jewellery house since 1837 and a household name throughout the globe, to keep it supplied with the rare gem. It also has a sales and marketing agreement with Diamonds to purchase all remaining commercial production. It has been estimated that the Ellendale Mine has 50 percent of the worlds known reserves of the fancy and vivid yellow diamond.

All Workers Kept Their Jobs During the Takeover by Goodrich Resources

Goodrich Resources Limited purchased the Kimberly Diamond Company as a going concern keeping all staff positions intact including mine and management personnel. This meant the new owners had immediate revenue that added considerable value to it overall portfolio of assets. There were 170 employees involved in the takeover by Goodrich. All are accommodated on site when working their shift at the mine. Rosters are for 14 days on and seven days off and they are flown in and out from either Derby or Broome. One of Goodrich's first projects on taking over was in extending the life of mine to beyond present expectations.

Large Tenement Coverage at Goodrich's Disposal

The mining lease surrounding the Ellendale Mine covers a 128 square kilometre area. Within this lease there are 44 known lamproite pipes, many of which have the potential to be mined profitably in the future. The Kimberly purchase also delivered Goodrich a 51 percent interest in diamond exploration company Blina Diamonds NL. This company has tenements covering a further 1,500 square kilometres surrounding the Ellendale leases. Fifty identified lamproite pipes and several alluvial channels have already been discovered within the tenement area held by Blina Diamonds. The latest resource statement, issued in early 2012, showed a combined resource of 91.3 million tonnes grading at 4.35 carats for every hundred tonne.