JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Finnish Mining Authority has granted Karelian Diamonds an exploration permit in the Kuhmo region, where it had discovered a green diamond at the start of the year.
The permit covers an area of 60.67 ha and is valid for four years.
Last week, the Dublin-based company announced that an extensive work programme was under way to find the source of the green diamond. The work programme follows on from the high kimberlite indicator minerals counts reported in September, which has considerably narrowed down the search area.
“I am very pleased that we have been granted an exploration permit surrounding the location of our significant discovery of a green diamond and look forward to continued results from the company’s exploration programme in the region,” commented chairperson Richard Conroy on Friday.
The diamond that Karelian discovered in January is believed to exceptionally rare. The company previously said that ODM Laboratory had processed more than 50 000 exploration till samples and that they had recovered less than 10 naturally occurring diamonds. The diamond is a clear, pale green dodecahedron and measures 0.7 mm by 0.75 mm by 0.7 mm.