Afri-Can Marine Minerals is commencing its follow-up sampling program of its block J marine diamond concession, situated 105 kilometres north of Luderitz in Namibia.
The corporation has contracted Gemfarm Investments (Pty.) Ltd. (GF) and its sampling vessel, mv Lady S, to conduct the first phase of the follow-up sampling program. The vessel left the port of Cape Town on Oct. 18, 2002, and reached the concession area on Oct. 23, 2002. The sampling operations should effectively begin on Oct. 24, 2002.
Block J is the subject of a joint venture between Afri-Can and Woduna Mining Holding (Pty.) Ltd. signed in October, 1999. Afri-Can currently holds an undivided 70-per-cent interest of the concession.
Block J covers an area of 994 square kilometres measuring approximately 45 kilometres long by 21 kilometres wide in water depths ranging from 70 to 167 metres. The concession lies on the northern boundary of the known rich diamondiferous deposits currently being mined along the south and central Namibian west coast. To the south of the project, an inferred resource exceeding four million carats has been estimated for the region between Halifax and Mercury Islands (Marine & Coastal, June 6, 2000).
