West Africa-focused Stellar Diamonds has reported “encouraging” initial diamond recoveries from drill core samples of the company's Droujba kimberlite pipe in south-east Guinea.
The company recovered 538 diamonds from 291.62kg of kimberlite, including five commercial-sized diamonds larger than 0.85mm.
The majority of the diamonds recovered are classified as white, colourless and transparent.
Commenting on the recoveries, chief executive officer Karl Smithson commented:"These excellent results confirm that the Droujba kimberlite pipe has the potential to be significantly diamondiferous. It is encouraging to not only see a large number of diamonds recovered, but also to confirm the presence of commercial sized stones in the relatively small sample processed.
"We have made strong progress with our kimberlite projects in both Guinea and Sierra Leone and with aggressive work programmes planned for Droujba as well as Tongo we believe that we have established a strong base from which to unlock shareholder value. We look forward to updating the market on progress made at Droujba and our other key development projects in the near future."
The company announced last December that three drill holes at Droujba had confirmed the site's kimberlite depth to 120 metres, and that the first batch of drill core had been sent to Canada to be analysed for microdiamonds.
London-based Stellar has a portfolio of projects in West Africa. Two projects in Guinea, Mandala and Bomboko, are undergoing mining and trial mining respectively.
As of June 28 of last year, Mandala and Bomboko had produced 78,000 carats and 4,000 carats respectively of rough diamonds, providing over $2.7 million in revenue for the company. Both projects are now being expanded with the goal of increasing diamond production.
The company also owns full rights over four high-grade kimberlites, currently the focus of exploration and development. In Sierra Leone at the Tongo project, a bulk sampling programme is currently being carried out on one kimberlite to assess the diamond grade and value, with initial results expected in the near future.
At the Kono underground trial mine, bulk sampling has produced 4,200 carats as part of an evaluation exercise; in Guinea, drilling is ongoing on the Droujba kimberlite pipe; and bulk sampling is currently in the planning stages at the high-grade Bouro kimberlite dyke.
