Namdeb, the joint diamond mining venture between De Beers and the Namibian government, could lose hundreds of millions of dollars if the current strike is not resolved, Namdeb said last week when it applied to the Labour Court to have the action declared illegal.

The strike is now in its 34th day. The Namibian reports that as of September 14, the company assessed that production losses stood at some 29,000 carats, or 8% of the 379,000 carats of rough diamonds it had hoped to mine in 2011.

At the time of Namdeb’s petition to the court, the strike had cost the company some $15.5 million.