Burgundy Diamond Mines Q2-2024 Activities Report

Burgundy Diamond Mines Limited (ASX: $BDM) has released its quarterly activities report for the period ending 30 June 2024. The report highlights operational and sales performance, mine life extension work, and corporate and financial summary. Key figures include 1.26 million ore tonnes mined, US$106 million in total sales proceeds, and a net cash position of US$37 million.

CEO Kim Truter's Commentary on Q2-2024 Performance

We had another busy quarter across the business. At Ekati, we successfully completed our major annual plant shutdown - a process that involves over 200 people and 6,500 hours of maintenance completed in less than a week. We were able to install two new X-ray sorting machines, which feeds into our larger Ekati transformation goals. A major focus of ours - and a big opportunity - is lowering the Ekati cost base, and as a result, increasing our profit margin. Something we identified since taking control of Ekati was the high amount of granitic waste entering our processing plant, mostly coming from the Misery underground operation. In simple terms, by reducing this, we would effectively be increasing our processed grade and production revenue, whilst significantly lowering the cost of maintaining our infrastructure. It's a big prize we are going after, and we have already seen an improvement as focus has increased on this and many other opportunities. There is a lot of technical work going on behind the scenes to meet our mine life extension goals. We have two active drilling programs at our Sable and Misery mines that are progressing well with encouraging preliminary observations. We also have our Fox underground prefeasibility study underway - the benefit of this mine extension opportunity is that we do not require any additional drilling or sampling work, as it is already an Indicated Mineral Resource boasting ~17 million high quality carats. We are merely taking the data we have and updating it with a lower cost mining method. Our future Point Lake open pit operation is getting closer to the finish line with our final dewatering phase underway and all permits received. It is exciting to be launching Ekati's tenth mine - a landmark achievement which represents the prospective nature of our land holdings. We look forward to providing more information on the timing of the various extension projects, and what our shareholders can expect over the next six to twelve months. In terms of the diamond market, prices continue to be suppressed due to inventory built up in the middle part of the supply chain (traders and manufacturers predominantly in India). Based on discussions with experts in the field, we believe it is just a matter of time before we start to see the diamond price move upwards as the supply demand equation tightens. We are also very enthused to see De Beers' intention for a renewed marketing campaign - the first time in 30 years. It is unquestionable that diamond marketing has always led to bullish periods for our sector.

Q2-2024 Report Summary and Outlook

Burgundy Diamond Mines (ASX: $BDM) reported operational and sales performance for Q2-2024, with 1.26 million ore tonnes mined, US$106 million in total sales proceeds, and a net cash position of US$37 million. The company is making progress in mine life extension work, with delineation drilling at Sable and Misery mines, prefeasibility studies, and preparations for the Point Lake open pit operation. CEO Kim Truter highlighted the focus on lowering the Ekati cost base and increasing profit margins. Despite suppressed diamond prices, the company remains optimistic about a potential upward movement in prices and is encouraged by De Beers' intention for a renewed marketing campaign. The company looks forward to providing more information on the timing of the various extension projects and the expectations for shareholders over the next six to twelve months.