African Diamonds have won a mining licence in the diamond rich Kono district of Sierra Leone. The licence covers the former National Diamond Mining Corporation's tailings from the Plant 11 alluvial mining operation.
Plant 11 was operated by NDMC for 23 years and the directors have estimated the resource runs to about seven million tons. Between 1962 and 1992, Plant 11 was one of the richest and largest alluvial diamond plants in the world.
All diamonds less than 1.5mm in diameter passed through to the tailings and African Diamonds anticipates that a high proportion of these diamonds will be gem quality. A highly developed market exists for these small diamonds in India and China.
The company also believe that some larger diamonds will be recovered as a result of operational inefficiencies in the running of Plant 11.
'This was a rare opportunity which we were fortunate to be offered and even more fortunate to win,' commented John Teeling, African Diamond's Chairman. 'There are very few seven million ton diamond resources in the world.'
'We know that there are diamonds in the tailings. Almost all of them will be small but many will be top quality. We are immediately commencing a drilling programme to define grades and tonnages,' he said.
