Diamond Fields International has appointed Charles F. Heyes as engineering manager and Ivor J. Jones as metallurgical manager. The management of Diamond Fields welcomes Mr. Heyes and Mr. Jones to the company. Mr. Heyes and Mr. Jones will play an important role in the company’s imminent transition from an exploration company into a marine diamond mining company with inaugural diamond production from its marine concessions offshore Luderitz, Namibia, to begin in June, 2001.
Mr. Heyes will be responsible for all engineering aspects of the company’s operations with joint venture partner Trans Hex Group, and the acquisition, equipping and engineering of Diamond’s own exploration and mining vessels. From 1996 to present, Mr. Heyes was employed as engineering manager for Namibian Minerals Corporation Ltd. where his responsibilities included all engineering aspects of Namco’s principal mining system, vessel selection, training of all offshore technical staff for both offshore mining, and exploration plant and equipment, and technical support of offshore positioning systems and seabed sonar visualization systems.
Mr. Jones’s responsibilities will include operational input with joint venture partner Trans Hex, the design, installation and commissioning of Diamond’s own prospecting and mining processing facilities upon acquisition of Diamond Fields’ vessels. Prior to joining Diamond Fields, Mr. Jones was employed by Namco from 1994 to present, where he was metallurgical manager and later operations manager. His responsibilities included the installation and commissioning of the processing plant on board the sampling vessel MV Sprut, defining the design criteria for the mining plant on board MV Kovambo, and operational management responsibilities for Namco’s marine mining and exploration fleet.
Operations director, Roger Daniel, commented: “We are delighted to attract people of the calibre of Mr. Heyes and Mr. Jones to Diamond Fields. Their combined experience and track records in the offshore diamond industry will add considerable strength to our technical capability in the next stage of becoming a significant diamond producer.”
