
RUSTENBURG - Petra Diamonds Limited on Thursday, launched an Artisanal Small Scale Mining (ASM) initiative in Koffiefontein in the Free State.
"Petra believes that there is a space for artisanal small scale miners to co-exist with formalised, large-scale mining, since ASM can often profitably recover diamonds from resources that would be unprofitable, or at best marginal, for a larger operator due to the capital and overhead costs involved," the diamond mining group said.
"A decision was taken to make available some of the Tailings Mineral Resources (TMR), notably the resource generally referred to as the 'Eskom dump', for the benefit of the community of Koffiefontein. The intention is that properly regulated artisanal mining, which would comply with the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, as well as other standards for such operations set by, inter alia, the United Nations, will be conducted on this resource."
The aim of the initiative was to create a framework within which ASM could be conducted by community members in a legal and regulated manner.
This was the second ASM initiative put in place by the company, further to Petra's efforts involved in establishing the ASM sector in Kimberley.