Mothballed since 2015, the EllєɴԀale mine in Western Australia’s Kimberley region could be producing its famous fancy yellow diamonds as early as this month. EllєɴԀale diamonds possess a signature pure yellow color and are regarded as the highest quality in the world.
At one time, EllєɴԀale produced about 50% of the world’s entire supply of fancy yellow diamonds, with Tiffany & Co. holding the exclusive rights to buy 100% of the EllєɴԀale Fancy Yellow diamond production.
Now, two mining companies — India Bore Diamond Holdings (IBDH) and Burgundy Diamond Mines (BDM) — have been given the green light by the Aussie authorities to restart operations.
IBDH previously ɾєρօɾτed that it had discovered a large alluvial deposit of rare diamonds near the EllєɴԀale mine. The miner said the L-Channel deposit was estimated to contain 1.3 million carats of gem-quality diamonds, including the world renowned EllєɴԀale fancy yellows.
An IBDH spokesperson toldRapaport Newsthat the mining company had discovered an ancient hidden river system flowing in a southward direction thɾօυɢҺ the EllєɴԀale diamond field.
“Until we discovered the channel, the idea of a south-flowing drainage system ran against many years of collective wisdom that the natural alluvial drainage systems at EllєɴԀale flowed only to the north [or] northwest,” said an IBDH spokesperson. “In short, we looked where nobody had before.”
IBDH believes that 11% of all annual output will consist of fancy-yellow diamonds. The rest will include colorless diamonds, as well as a rainbow of colors, including green, red, pink, brown, blue, grey, purple and violet.
Peter McNally, managing director of IBDH, told Australia’s ABC network that he hoped to be mining diamonds at EllєɴԀale some time this month.
Meanwhile, Burgundy Diamond Mines was also preparing to return to commercial mining of the old EllєɴԀale diamond project. BDM managing director Peter Ravenscroft told the news agency that his company was in the process of building a bulk sampling ρłɑɴt and was confident production would start up by the fourth quarter of 2022.
The former Rio Tinto executive is hoping to replicate the successes of the Argyle Pink Diamonds brand.
“Those fancy yellow diamonds from EllєɴԀale are really sought after and highly prized,” he told the ABC network.
Having exhausted its reserves, Rio Tinto shuttered its Argyle mining operations in November of 2020. During its 37 years of production, the Argyle mine generated more than 865 million carats of ɾօυɢҺ diamonds and become the world’s largest producer of colored diamonds.
The EllєɴԀale mining area is located 120 km east of Derby in Western Australia.
