Diamond Fields has made excellent progress on its advanced sampling and test mining program on its marine sea diamond concessions near Luderitz, Namibia. Diamond Fields
believes the results to date further substantiate its belief that the Marshall
Fork feature represents potentially one of the most profitable sea diamond
deposits known. Highlights of the results and progress of the program to date
include the following:
Marshall Fork feature (phases 1 and 2)
Over 96 per cent of the drill samples collected in a 0.8-square-kilometre area of the
Marshall Fork feature contained gem quality diamonds with individual
sample recovered grades ranging up to 6.0 carats/square metre.
Test mining of 6,000 square metres in the Marshall Fork feature resulted in an average recovered grade of 1.5 carats/square metre and follow-up
sampling revealed that considerable quantities of diamonds remained
unmined. The true grade in the areas test mined are considerably
higher and better recovery can be achieved by a mining system
designed for the geologic conditions found in the area.
In nine days equivalent of actual mining activities, test mining
operations yielded 9,252 carats of gem quality stones, slightly over
1,000 carats per full operating day.
Diamonds with a mean stone size of 0.35 of a carat, recovered from
Marshall Fork during the phase 1 operations, were sold for
$164 (U.S.)/carat.
Elephant Basin feature and phase 3 reconnaissance sampling
Over 90 per cent of the drill samples collected from an area in the Diaz
Point-Elephant Basin feature contained gem quality diamonds with a
mean size of 0.37 of a carat.
Phase 3 reconnaissance sampling activities concentrating on the Boat
Bay gravel and Gallovidia Reef features commenced on Aug. 28, 1999,
and field sampling rates are progressing ahead of plans, with 520
samples collected as of Oct. 8, 1999.
Other
The company contracted De Beers Marine separately for each phase of
the program using tried and proven sampling, mining and processing
systems under the watch of De Beers Marine’s strict security
regimens.
Proceeds from diamonds recovered during phases 1 and 2 of the
program are projected to offset over 50 per cent of the anticipated $3.2-million (U.S.) costs of phases 1 and 2.
The program operates under an environmental management plan for all
its sampling activities. Previous studies indicate minimal lasting
environmental impact is caused by marine diamond mining operations.
Phase 1 and 2 operations have improved the company’s understanding of the
physical geological environment in the Marshall Fork feature and the operating
conditions to be anticipated within the Luderitz Bay concession area. DFI
believes that Wirth drill indicated grades obtained are significantly less
than the true diamond grades present in the feature. The company anticipates
that a diamond recovery system specifically designed to mine the feature will
prove the true magnitude of the high potential marine diamond resource
contained within the Marshall Fork channel. An appropriate mining system
would be designed to effectively mine through the identified stratigraphy and
to efficiently excavate the high-grade diamond traps present in the gneissic
footwall, two functions in which the Wirth tool had limitations when operating
in the geologic conditions encountered during the program.
Analysis of the phase 2 detailed results is proceeding, however the
company believes it has collected sufficient detailed geological data
(exclusive of a planned geotechnical program) to support a resource estimate
and a feasibility study for an initial mining operation capable of producing
several hundreds of thousand of carats per year on the Marshall Fork feature.
