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Diamond bulk sample grades exceed 150cpht at Tongo, Sierra Leone
Stellar Diamonds plc, the London listed (LSE:STEL) diamond development company focused on West Africa, has announced that re-processing of bulk sample tailings at its Tongo kimberlite dyke project in Sierra Leone has yielded additional diamonds and increased the average grade to 155 carats per hundred tonnes (cpht).
Highlights:
· 29% increase in undiluted diamond grade to 155cpht from 120cpht
· Processing to date has now yielded 843 carats
· High diamond quality with modelled value of $248/ct for an in-situ ore value of $384 / tonne
· Resource size currently independently estimated at 1.1 million carats anticipated to be increased
· Blasting, extraction and processing of final sample has commenced
· Final bulk sample results and diamond export for independent valuation due in August
Stellar Diamonds Chief Executive Karl Smithson commented, “Tongo continues to yield excellent results underpinning the project’s significant potential. The reprocessing of sample tailings has yielded additional diamonds that have further enhanced the average bulk sample grade to 155 cpht. This grade compares very favourably with the previously calculated resource grade of 120cpht and should impact positively on project economics as well as the resource size, which is currently independently estimated at 1.1 million carats (JORC compliant). The final bulk sample to complete the 1,000 carat parcel is currently being extracted and processed and we expect the final grade and value data to be available in August.”
Dyke-1 Bulk Sampling and Results:
Tailings material from sub-samples 7, 8 and 9 has been re-crushed and re-processed via the Company’s 5tph DMS plant. This has yielded an additional 113 carats which, when added to the 730 carats already produced from the first pass processing, has resulted in an overall diamond parcel of 843 carats recovered to date, giving an in-situ kimberlite grade of 154.5cpht. This is 29% higher than the 120cpht resource grade previously established and should impact positively on the resource size (currently 1.1 million carats) and economics of the Dyke-1 kimberlite.
The diamonds from the re-crush are typically of high colour and quality, though they have an overall smaller average stone size than the first pass diamonds, since the crushing setting was reduced during the re-processing.
Extraction of the final sub-sample, S12, has commenced to the east of the existing sample trench and a total of 256 tonnes of diluted kimberlite and granite has been collected by drilling and blasting. Processing of this material is ongoing and the full sample is likely to be completed in early August.
