Diamond Fields International Ltd. has provided results from its initial diamond exploration work on the 1,095-square-kilometre Grand Cape exploration licence in western Liberia. Grand Cape is underlain by Archean aged rocks of the Guinea shield and is prospective for diamondiferous kimberlite pipes and dikes. The property is optioned from Ducor Minerals Inc., a Liberian registered company.
The first eight stream sediment samples from reconnaissance sampling near the Camp Alpha prospect contained indicator minerals suggestive of a diamondiferous kimberlite source. The indicator minerals include five kimberlitic garnets and over 1,000 ilmenites (due to substantial quantities of ilmenite in all size fractions of the samples, the lab was instructed to stop picking at 50 visually identified kimberlitic ilmenites per size fraction after the initial three samples were picked). Of the garnets recovered and probed, one is a G10 garnet from the G10D facies diamond stability field (Grutter, Gurney, et al., 2004) and the other four are G9s, based on the geochemical divisions of Gurney (1984). Of 160 ilmenites probed (20 per sample), 159 were confirmed kimberlitic. They form two distinct geochemical populations when plotted using the Haggerty (1975, 1976) method, indicating separate source kimberlite bodies are probably represented. The samples were collected from a small closed drainage that originates approximately five kilometres farther upstream from the last sample point. Samples collected from an adjacent drainage are already in the lab for processing. Previous exploration has identified kimberlite dikes in the area and artisinal workings are reported to have recovered diamonds.
The Grand Cape concession is immediately adjacent to the Kpo property of Mano River Resources, where five diamondiferous kimberlites are being evaluated under a joint venture between Mano and Trans Hex of South Africa. There are numerous other target areas within the 1,095-square-kilometre property that will be systematically sampled during the reconnaissance phase of the program. The Grand Cape property is also prospective for greenstone and banded iron formation hosted gold deposits, which will also be targeted in this initial round of evaluation sampling.
Diamond Fields’ exploration team comprises Liberian geologists seconded from the Department of Minerals and Energy directed by Diamond Fields’ chief geologist, Randal Cullen. The stream sediment samples were jigged in the field to create approximately one kilogram of heavy mineral concentrate, sent to Nexo Labs of Kyalami, South Africa (ISO 14001 accreditation has been applied for) and picked by Sophie Napier, a mineralogist with more than 10 years industry experience. Indicator minerals were then microprobed at the analytical facility of the University of Johannesburg (a merger between Rand Afrikans University and Wits University). The results of the stream sediment sampling program have been reviewed, verified (including sampling, analytical and test data) and compiled by the Diamond Fields’ geological staff supervised by Randal Cullen, PGeol, a qualified person as indicated under NI 43-101.
