more than 150 diamond targets identified in us

Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1430601/state_summaries_wyoming/

Diamonds. Low-intensity exploration for kimberlite and diamond continued across most of Wyoming during 2007. Individual prospecting was concentrated in the Medicine Bow Mountains, the Big Horn Basin, the Cedar Mountain area and the Seminoe Mountains.

More serious exploration activities were reported in an early November announcement by DiamonEx Ltd. of Brisbane, Australia (ABN Newswire, 2007). On Nov. 5, 2007, DiamonEx managing director Dan O'Neil announced his company's acquisition of more than 405 hm2 (1,000 acres) of diamond prospects in the Wyoming-Colorado State Line kimberlite district and in the adjacent Happy Jack area. DiamonEx has identified more than 150 prospective kimberlite exploration targets in the region. The company has also taken out an option to purchase the mineral rights to 65 hm2 (160 acres) in Colorado containing the Sloan 1 and 2 kimberlite pipes. More than 39,000 diamonds, the largest weighing 5.51 carats, were recovered from the Sloan pipes during the 1980s and 1990s (Hausel, 1998). DiamonEx plans to move ahead with large-diameter drilling for bulk sample evaluation of the Sloan pipes.

O'Neil noted that its project in this area is potentially larger than its successful Lerala diamond mine in Botswana, which is expected to produce an average 330,000 carats per year during a 10- year period. He reiterated the pervasive optimism within the world diamond market, in which demand is expected to rise 4 to 5 percent per year during the next seven years, while diamond supply is expected to decline.

The State Line district, the largest kimberlite district in the United States, sits along the southern edge of the Wyoming Craton. The Wyoming Craton is part of the ancient core of the North American continent (older than about 2.5 billion years) that extends south from Canada beneath Montana and most of Wyoming. This stable part of the continent is believed to have high potential for diamond deposits.