Stellar Diamonds’ Bulk Samples in Guinea Exceeds Expectations

PUBLISHED: 06 Aug 2012 @ 23:45 | Comments (0) | More info about Kenneth G. Mondero

West African diamond miner and producer Stellar Diamonds (LSE:STEL) said today its initial samples from the Droujba Project in Guinea exceeded expectations in both grade and quality and plans to upgrade its resource by the fourth quarter of 2012.

According to the company, about 173 carats at an average grade of 188 carats per hundred tonne (cpht) were taken from 92 tonnes of bulk samples, exceeding the earlier estimate of 100 cpht, including the 5.5 carat diamond, the largest from the nine stones bearing over 1 carat.

The samples were taken from the five-kilometre Katcha Dyke adjacent to the Droujba kimberlite pipe, which recently yielded some 992 carats at an average grade of 76.20 cpht, including a 6.9 carat, announced last 25^th June 2012.

Stellar Diamonds currently has an inferred resource of 2.5 million carats from the Droujba project, one of the three projects it has in the country, which it said has the potential for an open pit mining. It hopes to achieve 5 million carats JORC-compliant resource base.

The recent development adds to the hype in the company who has recently renewed its exploration licence in Sierra Leone, after the country’s Ministry of Mines and Minerals nullified its permit last April 2012.

Shares of the company, trading on the Alternative Investment Market, were up 12% to 3.5 pence, nearly 50% less than its value back in April, before the licences got cancelled.

“I look forward to updating shareholders as we progress,” Chief Executive Karl Smithson said in a statement.

Company Spotlight

Stellar Diamonds plc was incorporated in the UK following a reverse takeover of West African Diamonds plc by Stellar Diamonds Ltd. The company holds four licences, two each in Sierra Leone and Guinea, with a combined resource of about 3.1 million carats.

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