Afri-Can Marine Minerals Corp. has completed the acquisition of 20 per cent of the common shares of Thyme Investments (Pty.) Ltd., which is the sole owner of the exclusive prospecting licence (EPL) 3403 marine diamond concession in Namibia, in exchange for common shares of Afri-Can.
In accordance with the agreement announced on Oct. 25, 2010, between Afri-Can and the owners of 100 per cent of Thyme, which were International Mining and Dredging Holding Ltd. (IMDH) and BV Investments Four Hundred and Nine (Pty.) Ltd. (BVI), Afri-Can has issued 2,437,500 Afri-Can common shares to IMDH and 812,500 Afri-Can common shares to BVI. As a result of this transaction, IMDH and BVI retain an 80-per-cent interest in Thyme until such time as Afri-Can exercises its option to acquire the remaining shares of Thyme. After issuance of the 3.25 million Afri-Can shares to IMDH and BVI, there are 86,527,864 Afri-Can common shares outstanding.
Afri-Can holds an option to acquire the remaining 80 per cent of the shares of Thyme by completing a sampling program of a minimum of 30 days or by extracting 300 samples. The first phase of this sampling program was completed in December, 2012, with the extraction of 222 samples. The acquisition by Afri-Can of the remaining 80 per cent of the shares of Thyme will be completed once the second phase of the sampling is completed and as soon an additional 78 samples are extracted.
Since May, 2011, Afri-Can has invested $4,078,000 in two sampling programs and one geophysical survey, which has resulted in the extraction of 527 samples and the collection of 1,500 line kilometres of high-definition surveying data. Afri-Can’s complete program has discovered three deposits and recovered 102 gem-quality diamonds. Average recovered diamond size is similar to those found on concessions nearby, and the high quality of the diamonds is typical of those found off the coast of Namibia.
Pierre Leveille, president and chief executive officer of Afri-Can, stated: “We are very pleased with the results of this multiphase exploration program. Results to date lead to resource development as well as eventual trial mining on targeted areas. We feel that we are sitting on a strong project in a very solid industry.”
Leonard Gardner, BSc (honours, geology), PrSciNat, is responsible for the technical part of this press release, and is the designated qualified person under the terms of National Instrument 43-101.
EPL 3403 covers approximately 800 square kilometres and is adjacent to the north of the Atlantic One mining lease 47 owned by Namdeb Diamond Corp. (Pty.) Ltd., a 50/50 partnership between the government of the Republic of Namibia and De Beers Centenary AG. ML 47 is the largest marine diamond deposit in the world and is currently producing in excess of 1.1 million carats per year.
