Burgundy has purchased a parcel of fancy yellow rough diamonds produced at the former Ellendale diamond mine in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia, as the company prepares for its own production at the site.
The diamonds are approximately 350 carats of fancy, intense or vivid yellow colour stones between two and five carats in size that were produced at Ellendale in 2009.
The stones will be cut and polished at Burgundy’s Perth facilities and provide an opportunity for Burgundy to prepare its production as operations are expected to restart at Ellendale at the end of this year.
Burgundy also purchases a parcel of fancy yellow rough diamonds sourced from the Misery Pipe at Arctic Canadian Diamond Company’s Ekati operations.
“The purchase of these two parcels of rough diamonds represents continued execution of our strategy to produce revenue from cutting and polishing third-party rough diamonds, while building towards our own in-house production,” Burgundy chief executive officer and managing director Peter Ravenscroft said.
“Accessing an outstanding parcel of stones produced from the former Ellendale mine has the added advantage of establishing our processes in preparation for our own production, and also showcasing these highly-prized fancy yellow diamonds as part of our ultra-luxury brand offering.”
Burgundy acquired interests in the Ellendale and Blina projects in 2020, that are collectively named the Ellendale Diamond Project, which includes all tenements pegged by Gibb River Diamonds over the historic Ellendale diamond mine.
The transaction is in the form of an option agreement over two years, and work programs are underway, including a state-of-the-art bulk sampling plant.
Early works onsite started in July 2021 with the preparation of roads, a campsite and a site for the bulk sampling plant.