Diamond Fields International Ltd. has exercised its
option to acquire the rights to the Valozoro nickel property in Madagascar and
now owns 100 per cent of these exploration rights which are valid until May, 2011.
The Valozoro nickel deposit is located 60 kilometres north of the town of
Fianarantsoa in south-central Madagascar and is reported in the Catalogue des
Principaux Gites Mineraux de Madagascar (Catalogue of Principal Mineral
Deposits of Madagascar). During 1956 and 1957, UGINE completed an extensive
prospecting program and reported an estimated resource of 3.7 million tons of
lateritic ore (derived from an altered peridotite host) grading 1.75 per cent nickel
containing 65,000 tons of contained nickel metal. This is a historical
resource estimate and a qualified person has not done sufficient work to
classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral
reserves under National Instrument 43-101. The company is not
treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral
reserves as defined in Section 1.2 and Section 1.3 of National Instrument 43-101, and accordingly the
historical estimate should not be relied upon.
DFI has completed a reconnaissance-level sampling pass over the Valozoro
lateritic nickel deposit with results from the program confirming the presence
of a high-grade nickel deposit (the results of this program were reported in Stockwatch news March 4, 2004). The reconnaissance pass of sampling
collected one-metre chip and channel samples through the lateritic profile by
revisiting 18 of the more than 454 pits excavated on the property by UGINE.
In addition road cuts and hillside exposures of mineralization were sampled
and 170 of the pits were mapped and logged for depth.
Pit sampling was restricted to pits with a maximum depth of eight metres
due to equipment constraints, while mapping shows that some pits reach a depth
of 17.5 metres. The shallow depth of sampling meant that results are mainly from
the upper 6.6 metres of lower-grade boulder-dominated material. Sampling returned
grades between 0.61 per cent and 1.77 per cent nickel over thicknesses of four metres to six metres in 10 of
the 18 pits sampled in this upper horizon. Where sampling reached the
serpentinized lower part of the deposit, a dramatic improvement of grade was
seen with values ranging between 3.5 per cent nickel over two metres to 5.9 per cent nickel over one metre in
three pits.
Grab and chip samples collected over the deposit in road cuts and slump
exposures of the laterite horizon returned nickel values as high as 8.56 per cent nickel
from the argillaceous serpentine of the exposed lower horizon.
Crushing, milling and geochemical analysis of the DFI samples were carried
out by Anglo American Research Laboratories (Pty.) Ltd., Johannesburg, South
Africa. The samples were processed using the ICPME46A method. Randal
Cullen, PGeol, chief geologist for DFI at the time, was a qualified person
under NI 43-101 and was responsible for program design and quality control of
this exploration undertaken by DFI.
DFI’s exploration plans include drilling and continuation of the sampling
of existing pits to build a definitive picture of tonnage and nickel-grade
distribution in the deposit, as well as prospecting in the vicinity for similar
additional mineralization.
In Stockwatch news Dec. 28, 2005, the company reported that Inco Ltd. had advised
Diamond Fields that it does not plan further work on the company’s Ammassalik
nickel project in east Greenland and thereby retains no interest in the land
package compiled by Diamond Fields. Following assessment of exploration data
the company is not planning further exploration programs on these properties.
Roger J. Daniel, BSc (honours), geology, London, PrSciNat, the company’s
president and chief executive officer, is a fellow of the South African Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy (SAIMM) and is also a registered geological scientist with the
South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) and is thus
a qualified person under NI 43-101. Mr. Daniel has compiled and reviewed the
scientific and technical information contained in this news release.
