SearchGold Resources Inc. has announced encouraging progress for Stellar Diamonds Limited in which it holds 2.7 million shares or an interest of 5.5%.
The Mandala alluvial diamond project is 100% owned by Stellar and comprises two alluvial mining concessions in southeastern Guinea. The project comprises an independently verified diamond resource of 535,000 carats (NI 43-101 compliant). During early 2009, Stellar erected a 100 tonne per hour Dense Media Separation (“DMS”) processing plant at the Mandala mine site with commissioning in late April 2009. The forecast diamond production is between 8,000 and 10,000 carats per month at an average value of $40 per carat for the remainder of 2009.
As at August 26, 2009 some 34,890 cubic meters of diamondiferous gravel have been mined and processed through the DMS plant which has a 100 ton per hour head feed and 30 ton per hour DMS capacity. This has yielded 29,095 carats of diamonds greater than the 1.7 mm bottom cut-off, at an average grade of 0.83 carats per cubic metres (or approximately 42 carats per hundred tons). The largest diamonds produced to date weigh 33.11 ct,12.94 ct, 10.93 ct, 10.43 ct, though these are not of good quality. However, some excellent quality gemstones of 7.89 ct, 5.95 ct, 4,99 ct, 4.84 ct and 4.66 ct have been recovered. Overall more than 1,600 diamonds weighing greater than 1 carat have been yielded.
Four exports totalling 28,198 carats have been made to Stellar’s marketing agent, Natural Diamonds Corporation, in Antwerp, Belgium. Sales are summarised below :
- June-09 sale : 7,452.27 run of mine carats sold for $US 203,145 (av. $US 27.26 per carat)
- July-09 sale : 1,221.47 gem and near gem carats sold for $US 210,423 (av. $US 172 per carat)
Diamonds in stock, which will be sold on the Antwerp market, are comprised of :
- July-09 export : 8,907 carats of industrial diamonds
- August-09 export : 10,564 carats run of mine
The quality of production has increased steadily since mining began and the July and August exports are of significantly higher quality than the June export and higher sales prices are expected. The gem diamond population is generally of high quality. Included in the June and July sales were two diamonds weighing a total of 9.85 carats and valued at $US 27,088 ($US 2,750 per carat). Other high quality diamonds included a 5.95 carat gem that was valued at $US 10,115 ($US 1,700 per carat), a 3.70 carat gem valued at $US 7,400 ($US 2,000 per carat), a 3.56 carat gem valued at $US 6,400 ($US 1,800 per carat) and a 2.89 carat gem valued at $US 5,800 ($US 2,000 per carat). A small population of the parcel also comprised fancy rarer yellow, green and pink colours.
President and CEO Philippe Giaro, commented on Stellar’s recent results “We are very pleased at the progress accomplished by Stellar. In a short time frame the Mandala project has demonstrated its viability through sustained production as well as its significant upside with the recovery of high quality gemstones of up to 7.89 carats. While the diamond sector continues to be challenging, the higher end segment of the market remains solid and high quality stones provides the project with significant potential future upside. Pending the upcoming sale of the diamond currently held in stock, Stellar anticipates breaching the $US 1,000,000 mark in revenue for 2009, which, given the current economic crisis, can be considered very encouraging.”
