An interesting story from late 2003...I have highlighted a...

An interesting story from late 2003...

I have highlighted a passage of some interest...which perhaps highlights the importance of the recent kimberlite pipe discoveries...

Could South Australia become the world's next major diamond producer?
Broadcast: 28/11/2003

Reporter: Esther Lindstrom

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Deep in the heart of the Flinders Ranges, a South Australian company has begun a quest for one of the world's rarest gems.

Flinders Diamonds has already started drilling at three sites, with some very promising results.

If the exploration proves successful, SA could soon become the world's next major diamond producer.

ESTHER LINDSTROM: Nothing captures the imagination quite like a diamond.

Across the world they're one of the most highly sought after rare gems in a market worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

More than 80 per cent of the world's diamonds come from just seven countries.

Australia only has one producer -- the Argyle Mine in WA.

Now a local company's challenging that position by searching for diamonds in SA's Far North.

KEVIN WILLS, FLINDERS MINING: Well, we've found a lot of diamonds in this project area.

There's 367 diamonds been found so far, and one of the densest accumulations of diamonds in Australia, so --

..but we haven't found the pipe yet and that's what we're looking for -- the elusive thing -- if we can find that, we should have the source of the diamonds.

ESTHER LINDSTROM: Flinders Diamonds is drilling for diamonds in a 6,000 square kilometre area from Port Augusta to Hawker.

The company's managing executive, Kevin Wills, was part of the team that found the Argyle mine in WA, and says geologists have long thought SA's north was another promising area.

KEVIN WILLS, FLINDERS MINING: The evidence for diamonds and indicators in the Flinders Ranges is very strong, and people have thought for a long time that there are diamondiferous kimberlites in the area.

ESTHER LINDSTROM: Diamonds are formed deep within the earth when carbon is compressed under high pressure over a long time.

They were brought to the earth's surface millions of years ago by spurts of molten lava which form what are called kimberlite pipes.

And it's these kimberlite pipes that Kevin Wills is looking for in the Springfield and Boolcunda basins near Craddock, just south of Hawker.

KEVIN WILLS, FLINDERS MINING: We've got a model that these small basins are actually volcanic craters that have filled up with sediments, and there could be a kimberlite pipe underneath.

ESTHER LINDSTROM: But finding the pipes is no easy task.

Even with the latest surveying techniques, a lot of diamond exploration simply comes down to luck.

Drilling at the Boolcunda Basin has so far unearthed just one micro diamond, but digging into this ridge in the Springfield Basin has found 65.

The company also uses the time-honoured technique of panning dry creek beds for diamonds and following them back to find the source.

The company's geologist, Barbara Anderson, says they're drilling deeper into the earth than any company has before.

BARBARA ANDERSON, FLINDERS MINING: In the 1960s they drilled a few holes here looking for coal.

There are coal seams which you can see in our core now.

Apart from that, there was one hole drilled in the 1980s by a company also looking for diamonds, but they didn't actually get to the bottom of the sedimentary sequence.

ESTHER LINDSTROM: Flinders Diamonds is also exploring old gold mining areas at Echunga in the Adelaide Hills, and has begun drilling 40 holes at Eurelia in the Mid North.

By using new techniques, Kevin Wills is hoping for success where others have failed.

KEVIN WILLS, FLINDERS MINING: As long as we do something different we've got a good chance of finding something.

ESTHER LINDSTROM: If those efforts are successful, the results could be of enormous benefit for both the region and SA.

KEVIN WILLS, FLINDERS MINING: Diamond mines tend to be reasonably large mines, and they last a fairly long time, possibly 10 to 20 years.

You might have employment of a couple of hundred people and you might be generating a turnover of $50 million to $100 million a year, or more.

ESTHER LINDSTROM: That's a view supported by Adelaide jeweller Ann Middleton who works with Argyle diamonds, sells regularly overseas, and wins international awards.

ANN MIDDLETON, CHEZ JEWELS: To be able to promote SA, we've got the gold, we've got diamonds -- how incredible could it be?

And people want them.

I mean they will spend a lot of money for a very rare diamond -- as well as pearls, of course, from Broome -- but they're just so sought after, and we're really still the flavour of the month throughout the world.

ESTHER LINDSTROM: That's the market Kevin Wills is keen to have a part of, and he hopes to have some results in a few weeks.

KEVIN WILLS, FLINDERS MINING: We've been working here for five years and we've been wanting to drill these holes for some time so at long last we're doing it and we've got the chance of finding something, so, yeah, it's a great feeling, and everybody in Flinders is looking forward to a successful result.

Cheers!