TSX-listed Vaaldiam said it has bought back a 31% stake in the Brauna kimberlite project in eastern Brazil for $6.5 million, bringing its ownership to 51%, miningweekly.com reported.

The diamond company had been forced to sell an 80% stake in the project to a group of Antwerp diamantaires for $5 million after the financial crisis left the firm on the verge of bankruptcy.

Under the agreement announced on Friday, Vaaldiam will fund the B3 project, which forms part of the joint-venture, to production and receive all profits from the mine until the development costs had been paid back.

Vaaldiam CEO Robert Jackson said in an interview with miningweekly that the company aimed to start production at the project, which De Beers used to own, within two to three years, at an estimated cost of $25 million to $40 million.

“This is a game-changing deal for Vaaldiam,” he said of the purchase in an earlier press release.

The company has commissioned Coffey Mining to prepare a preliminary economic assessment to be completed this month, and expects to complete a feasibility study in 2012.

Jackson told miningweekly.com he expected initial productions levels of 100 000 ct/y to 150 000 ct/y at the B3 kimberlite. He said the average value of diamonds Vaaldiam has discovered at the project is $339/ct, which ranked it as one of the highest values in the world.

Vaaldiam’s share price rose 1.75% in Toronto to close at $0.29 a piece.