JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – West Africa-focused diamond development company Stellar Diamonds has exported a diamond parcel of 3 341 ct – extracted through an ongoing trial mining programme – from its Baoulé kimberlite project in Guinea’s Aredor area, to Antwerp.
The London-listed miner announced on Tuesday that these goods would be cleaned and sorted before a planned auction, which was expected to take place in March.
This would be the third diamond sale to take place as part of ongoing trial mining evaluation of the Baoulé pipe, which was being undertaken to determine the diamond grade and value of the deposit.
To date, some 8 830 ct had been recovered from the trial mining programme. Two diamond sales, totalling 5 173 ct and generating revenues of over $700 000, were completed in 2015.
Stellar’s objective is to mine and process 100 000 t of kimberlite, a process which is now more than 70% complete and yielding results in line with expectations. Based on the current grade realised and previous drilling results, Stellar Diamonds is still targeting a resource in the region of 3-million carats at Baoulé.