State-owned diamond miner Alexkor, through its pooling and sharing joint venture (PSJV) with the Alexkor Richtersveld Mining Company (RMC), has issued an expression of interest for contract diamond miners to mine areas along the West Coast of South Africa.

Principal qualifying contractors have been asked to submit proposals for one or more of the contiguous mining areas including terrestrial mining at river-based alluvial sites and dumps; as well as at marine-based sites, including on the beach and at shallow-water, middle-water and deep-sea zones.

Alexkor notes that it will appoint a limited number of well-resourced and experienced principal contractors according to several key criteria, including being based on technoeconomic proposals to mine the specified areas and a demonstration of the financial and technical resources needed to undertake the mining.

Alexkor will also adjudicate proposals based on contractors’ proposed health and safety plans, their proposed concurrent rehabilitation plans, how they intend to secure the properties, their proposed provisional structure and format of commercial terms between themselves and the PSJV.

The latter will be subject to negotiation in the case the principal contractor reaches the shortlisting stage, inclusive of incentives and penalties for achieving performance targets.

Further, Alexkor will also base its assessment of tenders based on the economic benefit for the local Richtersveld community, for which the successful principal contractor will be responsible in all respects.

Other adjudication measures include a requirement for interested parties to commit to partnerships with the Richtersveld community, for which the principal contractors will be held responsible.

To register an expression of interest, Alexkor requires a bank-guaranteed cheque or an electronic funds transfer to the value of R10 000, a valid tax clearance certificate, a broad-based black economic empowerment certificate and registration on the National Treasury Central Supplier Data Base.

Expressions of interest should be sent to Alexkor at its offices – Alexkor RMC, Orange Road, Alexander Bay, or by emailing tenders@alexkor.co.za or marianal@alexkor.co.za by January 26.