Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The first results from London-listed diamond development company Stellar Diamonds’ sampling of its 1.1-million carat Tongo dyke kimberlite diamond project, in Sierra Leone, are expected in February.
“We continue to make excellent progress in proving the inherent value of the high-grade and high-value resource of Dyke-1 at Tongo,” Stellar Diamonds CEO Karl Smithson said in a statement.
The company, which aimed to focus on the completion of its definitive feasibility study (DFS) this year, from which a production decision would be made, had kicked off bulk sampling in October and had, to date, delivered 650 t of material to the sample stockpile.
Processing started on Wednesday on the company’s on-site five-tonne-an-hour dense-medium separation plant. Stellar would boost the processing to about 100 t a week, with initial results being available in early February.
The DFS of the diamond resource was ongoing and aimed at ascertaining its economic parameters, but the company remained confident of “crystallising” value for shareholders by advancing Tongo.
The project had already yielded attractive diamond grades and values, with the establishment of 120 carats per hundred tons at $248/ct from a 1 050 ct parcel.
Drilling and blasting of Dyke-1 would continue over the next few months, with the entire process expected to be completed by mid-year.