[miningmx.com] — CANADIAN-listed marine diamond explorer Afri-Can has acquired an 800-square kilometre exploration block in the centre of the
largest and richest marine diamond field in the world – on Namibia’s south coast close to the mouth of the Orange River.
Afri-Can’s latest block, EPL 3403, lies next to the Namdeb/De Beers Marine
Atlantic One deposit which has a resource estimated at about 100 million carats and is currently producing 1.1 million carats a year sold at over $400 per carat, making it the most profitable marine diamond project currently in operation.
EPL 3403 is situated 75 kilometres from the mouth of the Orange River, considered
to be the main route that brought diamonds to the sea. It also faces the diamond area number one concession, where De Beers has mined over 250 million carats from its raised beaches since 1932.
Initial sampling of block EPL 3403 last October has already shown positive results,
said Afri-Can.
“Some 199 samples of five square metres each were extracted and 14 of those
samples contained 23 stones ranging between .07 and 2.69 carats per stone, said Afri-Can CEO Pierre Leveille.
“In one area in the south, eight positive samples had had an average size of 0.80
carats per stone which is comparable to results from the adjacent Namdeb deposit,
Atlantic One.
“It is also important to note that multiple stones were found in five samples one
of which contained six stones. This is a major indication of concentration and
confirms that a deposit lies in this specific area, which covers 16 square kilometres.
The northern area geologically similar to Atlantic One covers a vast 160 square
kilometers,” said Leveille.
Afri-Can’s geological team, headed by Dick Foster, who for 32 years was De Beers
Marine chief geologist during the development of its West Coast marine diamond
deposits, is analysing a sampling program for the new block.
In the past, Afri-Can has experienced delays with its sampling programmes, because
of a lack of availability of suitable high tech sampling boats. But this problem has
now been alieviated as Afri-Can bought its new block from specialist marine diamond
dredging company IMDH. IMDH has a range of high tech vessels for sampling and mining, Leveille noted.
In return for EPL 3403, IMDH has received a near 20% stake in Afri-Can at 14c a
share.
Afri-Can’s share price has recently fallen from 26 cents a share to 6 cents on
investor disappointment with its findings on its Block J sampling programme, some 300 miles north of its new marine diamond prospect, said the company.
“We discovered a profitable diamond deposit at Block J, which we will go back and
mine. But it was not as exciting as some of our shareholders were hoping for and
nothing like as exciting as our new block EPL3403,” said Leveille.
Afri-Can is planning a secondary listing on the JSE next year, it said.
