Richland Resources, which was actively fighting illegal gangsters at tanzanite mines in Tanzania, recently acquired a sapphire project in Australia, which is in maintenance mode.
This step is seen as an attempt to avoid potential losses in Tanzania, while the government of this country could not ensure that the license area of ​​Block C was cleared from illegal prospectors.
Richland realized the option to purchase the Nardoo project at a price of A $ 1.18 million ($ 1.09 million) and plans to resume production activity for 9 months.
"The Nardu project gives Richland the opportunity to quickly start producing high-quality sapphires," said Bernard Olivier, the company's CEO.
He added that small capital investments are required to develop the project, while the sapphires produced are of proven high quality and value.
In 2004, the JORD stock assessment of Nardu was 109 million carats with an average grade of 20 carats per hundred tons, and the production capacity of the enterprise reaches 20 million carats of sapphires per year.
The previous owner of the mine developed his open career way, and for 11 months of operating activity, 2.3 million carats of precious stones were received.
Sapphires occupy a significant part of the global precious stone market, but their extraction is often carried out by prospectors or small companies, and the supply market remains fragmented.