Offshore marine diamond surveying and high-density sampling, as well as trenching operations, on Diamond Fields International Ltd.’s Namibian concession, ML-111, are being engaged upon, initiating stage III of the company’s agreement with International Mining and Dredging Holding Pty. Ltd., being the holding entity of the IMDH Group (see DFI press release dated June 5, 2015).
Stage III constitutes further geophysical runs supporting a high-density sampling campaign of earlier stage II-identified areas focused on in the ML-111 concession area.
The stage III campaign will cover the period from early July through August, 2016, during which IMDH is planning, at times, the simultaneous deployment of three vessels, namely M/V DP Star, the Explorer and M/V Ya Toivo in the ML 111 area.
The survey vessel M/V DP Star is currently undertaking a detailed survey to be dynamically elaborated in a 3-D Topas footwall model within which the sampling vessel M/V the Explorer will be able to undertake high-density samples through vertical drilling. Deployment of M/V Ya Toivo will further allow trenching to be undertaken by its deployed crawler. This offers the possibility of confirming geotechnical soil conditions, the mine ability of such soils, footwall existence and its reachability within the 3-D Topas model. This combined data will support the vertical drill sampling by the Explorer to further expand the model with targeted areas that can in future be reached by a deployed crawler.
The successful completion of this stage III campaign will earn IMDH a 75-per-cent share ownership in DFI’s Namibian subsidiary, Diamond Fields (Namibia) Pty. Ltd., as consideration for the costs undertaken to execute stage III campaign and otherwise in accordance with the relevant terms of the agreement between the company and IMDH.
