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Search for: "Tshikapa"

De Beers builds DRC presence
Allan Seccombe
Posted: Fri, 11 Nov 2005

[miningmx.com] -- DE BEERS has farmed into 10 “highly prospective” diamond exploration leases owned by Caspian Oil & Gas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Australia-listed company said.

The 10 licences cover slightly more than 1,000 square kilometres in the Tshikapa Diamond Field in southwestern DRC near the Angolan border. The field is said to be one of the largest alluvial diamond provinces in the world.

It also has numerous kimberlites, the geological structures that could be host to diamonds.

The DRC and Angola are seen by De Beers as the most prospective countries for the precious stones after Botswana, the world’s largest source of rough diamonds.

De Beers has only recently won Angolan government approval to operate there. “The diamond exploration expertise of De Beers will be invaluable in assessing these highly prospective projects,” Caspian director Colin Carson said in a statement released on the Australian Stock Exchange.

According to background notes accompanying the statement, the Tshikapa Diamond Field produced some 23.8 million carats of diamonds between 1912 and 1961, of which 65% were of gem quality. Data since then is unreliable because artisanal miners have been operating there.

“The prospectivity of the region for diamonds is extremely high and has been emphasised by the rush by foreign companies to acquire concessions following the introduction of a new mining code in 2003,” the notes said.

It also said that Forminiere, which controlled the Tshikapa field until 1961, thought there might be local kimberlites because of the presence of kimberlite indicator minerals.

“Caspian has targeted these locations and others where diamonds have been recovered from conglomerates in the Cretaceous sediments,” the notes said.

More than 638 kimberlites have been discovered in the Angolan section of this belt and it is estimated that more than half contain diamonds.

Whether they are commercially viable remains to be seen.

Of the 4,450 known kimberlites, less than 1% are mineable as commercial ventures. But in order for De Beers to replace the diamonds it is mining it has to be in an area where kimberlites are numerous.

De Beers will earn 70% in the projects by completing a pre-feasibility study on at least one of the licence areas. De Beers will manage the project during the exploration, development and production stages.

It could take up to six years before a feasibility study is started because of a phased exploration and development programme. The biggest chunk of time will come from conducting soil and stream sampling, geophysics and drilling over three years.
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Caspian will continue to hold equity in the leases until a decision is made whether to mine based on a feasibility study, at which point Caspian can either contribute towards development to retain its 28.5% stake, or dilute its interest to five percent if the mine’s turnover is more than $40m a year.

The DRC government will take a five percent stake in a project company at the mining stage.

“The farmout by Caspian is in line with its announced intention of concentrating on its oil activities,” Caspian said.