Mining Weekly reports that Firestone Diamonds will decide about the start of mine development at its BK11 diamond project, located in northern Botswana, by the fourth quarter of the year. Firestone noted that diamond production could start by mid-2010.

The diamond exploration company announced that the decision to start mine development is dependent upon the final bulk-sampling evaluation phase, which is currently underway.

Firestone announced that during the final phase of evaluation, a bulk sample will be processed with the aim of recovering a sufficiently large parcel of diamonds in order for a high confidence diamond valuation to be obtained.

Firestone CEO Philip Kenny said. “With the company fully financed to diamond production at BK11, and with prices in the rough diamond market continuing to recover from their recent lows, we remain confident about Firestone's prospects.”

In addition, Firestone and Debswana are expected to finalize agreements related to detailed technical and commercial provisions for Debswana’s Jwaneng diamond mine,in Botswana. Debswana chose Firestone Diamonds as the preferred bidder to supply, construct and operate a modular tailings treatment plant at the diamond mine on a toll treatment basis.