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Kimberlite indicators in DRC diamond search excite Delrand

6th August 2013

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

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JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX- and JSE-listed exploration company Delrand Resources, which is operating exclusively in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is excited by kimberlite indicator minerals that exploration activities have unearthed at the company’s southern and northern projects.

Delrand believes that it has the largest exploration database for diamonds over one of the most prospective and least explored areas in the world – the Kasai Craton, producer of most of the DRC’s historical diamond production of more than 1.2-billion carats.

“I think we are quite proximal to a new kimberlite province. We feel these could be interesting times,” Delrand president and director Dr Mike de Wit told Mining Weekly Online.

Delrand, the former BRC DiamondCore, which has just published an update of its DRC activities in a Stock Exchange News Service (Sens) announcement, is engaged in follow-up activities aimed at linking the indicator minerals to source rocks.

“The indications so far are quite exciting,” added De Wit, who has extensive experience in the diamond industry, having begun his career as an exploration geologist for the Geological Survey in South Africa prior to joining De Beers, where he worked for 29 years.

“It’s a highly prospective area from a diamond point of view. We’ve found indications of indicator minerals associated with kimberlites both in our southern projects – but these are a little further away from finality – and also in our northern projects.

“We’re now trying to follow these up to see if we can link those to source rocks,” said De Wit.

It will then have to be determined whether kimberlites linked to the indicator minerals are diamond bearing or barren.

“It’s the first step,” VP finance and director Brian Scallan told Mining Weekly Online, adding that in the southern projects, the pressure that produced the garnets would be the level of pressure required to produce diamonds.

Work so far has identified numerous targets with samples that contain mantle minerals, which suggests that they are likely to be derived from kimberlites that are diamond bearing.

A significant number of samples collected over the original 44 Coexco exploration permits produced 63 diamonds, 17 ilmenites, 48 chromites – including nine from the diamond inclusion field – and 8 garnets during three phases of stream sampling in the period between 2009 and 2012.

In the south, Delrand has a joint venture with a major, and in the north, it is doing follow-up work on its own properties. “We’ve managed to survive in these difficult times when diamonds were hit.

“The property is still in our possession and now we’re taking the projects further,” added De Wit.

Scallan told Mining Weekly Online that DRC’s mineral legislative framework was considerably less complex than South Africa’s.

“In DRC, it’s the logistics that’s the big challenge,” De Wit added.

Delrand is investigating the possibility of kimberlites in three target areas at Bomili, which were identified after detailed follow-up of the data from a stream sampling mission in 2012.

It has focused its exploration under the Coexco option agreement from 44 exploration permits down to nine, which contain five priority targets.

In the south, its exploration database covers more than 100 000 km².

The northern DRC has a long history of quality alluvial diamonds, but to date, no primary kimberlite sources have been found.

According to the Sens announcement, Delrand has prospected large areas in the provinces of Equateur and Orientale in the search of these kimberlites.

Sampling exploration at Bomili and nearby Coexco was conducted between 2009 and 2012.

Stream sampling programmes were also conducted over several phases between 2009 and 2012 over the two Bomili exploration permits, which are wholly owned by the company and which occur 10 km north of the Coexco ground.

Three targets have been identified on the Bomili permits. These targets were covered by 89 close spaced samples in 2012 of which 51 were positive with ilmenite and chrome spinel.

Fourteen of these samples contained more than 10 mantle grains per sample, which suggests the presence of kimberlite.

This month’s mission will be to identify the source of those grains in at least two of the positive streams previously sampled.

The company believes that it will be able to locate the source of those mantle grains by a combination of stream samples and hammer survey, as there is little cover in the area and good outcrop in the streams.

The next steps, once the source has been identified, are dependent on the interest rating of these rocks, but could include more sampling, geophysics and drilling, the Sens report says.

Interpretation of these results highlighted six targets covering parts of nine of the original 44 Coexco exploration permits for further detailed follow-up work.

Application to reduce the initial 44 permits into these five targets has been submitted to the Department of Mines (CAMI) in Kinshasa.

Other high-interest targets have also been identified in the Orientale province by Delrand and may be pursued once CAMI opens for new applications.

Delrand also has an iron-ore exploration project and other mineral projects are under consideration.

De Wit managed various exploration programmes for De Beers in Africa, and Scallan is a former head of structured commodity finance for Standard Bank, boasting involvement in mining project finance in Uganda and the DRC.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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