JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The first diamonds have been exported from Aim-listed Stellar Diamonds’ 75%-owned Baoulé project, in Guinea, the company announced on Thursday.
The parcel of 941 ct, including gem diamonds up to 9 ct in size, had been exported to Antwerp, where it would be sold later this month.
"This first diamond export from Baoulé is a milestone for the company ahead of realising our first cash flow, which is expected when the goods are sold in the near future,” Stellar CE Karl Smithson commented.
He stated that trial mining at the project was progressing well, pointing out that the company had now reached its targeted processing capacity, which, at existing grades, could yield monthly production of 2 000 ct, if maintained.
To date, the company had produced 1 206 ct, with an average grade of 15 carats per hundred tonnes.
"We are particularly pleased with the regular occurrence of gem-quality stones of up to 9 ct in size from the limited processing to date.
“As this region of Guinea is renowned for its large diamonds of over 100 ct and 200 ct in size mined from alluvial mining, we are hopeful that we may recover yet larger, high-value diamonds as we continue to process higher volumes of kimberlite over the coming months,” Smithson said.
Stellar expected a diamond export and sale from Baoulé to take place every two months during 2015.