Illegal Mining Continues to Affect Richland's Result

(IDEX Online News) – Gemstone miner and developer Richland Resources Ltd said in its interim results for the half year ended 30 June that illegal underground activities from neighboring mines had severely affected its results. The company saw a drop in revenue from $8.4 million in the first half of 2012 to $7.5 million in the first half of 2013.

The tanzanite miner said that large areas of known high grade zones were inaccessible due to violence associated with illegal miners. In a bid to combat this activity, Richland said it had received government assistance in removing illegal miners in the northern part of its license area. During an operation to clear one of these areas, a Richland employee was shot dead by illegal miners.

Mining in these now-reclaimed areas is due to restart in the fourth quarter of 2013 while removal of illegal miners in the southern part of its license area is due to begin shortly.

“The period saw our investments in deriving increase value from extracted colored gemstone marred by the on-going break down in local security at the tanzanite mining areas in Northern Tanzania,” said Richland CEO Bernard Olivier. “Sub-surface tunnelling into some of Richland’s most prospective mine areas and increasing violence, led us to a situation where the company’s clear responsibility was to evacuate contested areas for workforce safety on and off the mine.”