The Gravelotte Emerald Mine
Summary
Gravelotte is historically one of the largest emerald mines in the world and was operational from 1929 to 2002 with:
- Total recorded historical emerald production from Gravelotte of nearly 113 million carats
- Largest emerald mine in the world during the 1960’s employing over 400 emerald sorters alone
Much of the extensive mine site infrastructure has recently been refurbished and upgraded in preparation for recommencing operations
Gravelotte is considered ready for the development of staged mining operations and a medium-term production opportunity
Acquired for £100,000, settled in shares at sp £0.02, and an AUD200,000 (approx. £123,000) for every 5,000,000 carats of emeralds produced. Up to a maximum of AUD2,000,000,000 (approx. £1.23m)
Gravelotte is owned via Gem Venus which owns 74% of the issued share capital of ADIT Mining (Proprietary) Limited (“ADIT”) and Venus Emerald (Proprietary) Limited (“Venus”) which hold all the mineral rights in respect of emerald mining and extraction at Gravelotte. The remaining 26% of the issued share capital of Adit and Venus are held by a Black Economic Empowerment (“BEE”) compliant structure predominantly consisting of local employees and the local community.
Gravelotte Project Overview
URA’s 74%-owned Gravelotte project is located in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.
Emeralds were discovered in the province in 1927 and since then, several companies have explored for and mined within the broader region for emeralds.
From 1929 to 1982 the total recorded emerald production from Gravelotte as well as the area surrounding the nearby Gravelotte township was nearly 113 million carats.
It is reported that during the 1960’s Gravelotte was the largest emerald mine of its type in the world, employing over 400 sorters.
Gravelotte’s previous owner has recently undertaken comprehensive field studies to better understand the geology, structural and geochemical controls of the emerald mineralisation.
In conjunction with these studies a concerted effort to assemble and then digitise the extensive data base over the project has been continuing.
Gravelotte comprises; established infrastructure, existing and accessible open cuts together with extensive low grade dumps, a large historic data base, a nearby and available work force, local onsite technical expertise and a nearby township that can serve as a supply centre.
Gravelotte provides URA with a short to medium term production opportunity in a niche commodity where demand is growing.
Exceptional Production Capacity
In the 1950’s & ‘60’s , Gravelotte was the largest emerald mine in the world, employing over 400 sorters, recovering a total of 112.7 million carats of emeralds over the life of operations.
Whilst a complete historical data package is not available, the data that has been sourced has provided high confidence for the projected re-development of Gravelotte.
Operations in the early 1980’s are reported to have returned a recovered grade in excess of 6g/t (30 carats/t) of exportable emerald.
Anecdotal evidence from previous owners indicates that processing security was poor and as a result the historical recovered grade is considered to be very conservative.
Magnum’s evaluation of Gravelotte is at an advanced stage with the Company’s studies targeting an initial production level of around 3 million carats per annum.
Gravelotte Summary
- Historic mining area with geology well known and understood.
- Hard rock as well as tailings resource potential once economic parameters have been established.
- Cobra branded emeralds in demand and well known in market place with discussions around the potential sale of product already commenced.
- Existing infrastructure with granted Mining Licence and Permits resulting in a near term and simple production pathway.
- Minimal capital expenditure compared to typical greenfields project development, resulting in attractive project economics.
- South Africa open again for mining.
