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Congo holds no fears for diamond hunters BHP Billiton and the Melbourne-based junior Gravity Diamonds.
By Barry FitzGerald
Resources Editor
July 22, 2005
Exploration for diamonds across vast tracts of the Democratic Republic of Congo holds no fears for the alliance between BHP Billiton and the Melbourne-based junior Gravity Diamonds. It has also yielded some impressive early-stage results.
Gravity, the operator of the joint venture on land held under licence by BHP, believes recent broad-based sampling has allowed the partnership to zero in on areas considered "hot" for potential the hard-rock sources of alluvial diamonds long mined by local miners.
Drilling of the best targets could happen by the end of the year. That got the market interested in Gravity, with the stock rising 4.5¢ or 9.3 per cent to 52.5¢ yesterday. The strong showing was despite fears market sentiment could have been tainted by recent controversy surrounding Perth-based Anvil and its copper mine in the DRC.
Anvil recently responded to allegations that its vehicles were used by soldiers involved in a massacre in the DRC by saying that the Congolese military had commandeered the vehicles, drivers and chartered aircraft to assist in suppressing a "rebel insurgency" around the company's mine in the south of the country.
Gravity managing director Phil Harman said yesterday that Gravity, helped by being at the broad-brush exploration stage, had been "getting on quite well" in the DRC.
Gravity reported that from the 17,000 sq km of the Luebo area covered by stream sediment sampling, some 7000 sq km has been designated for follow-up work. Apart from success in finding diamond indicator minerals, 18 macrodiamonds (more than 0.425mm) had been recovered from 15 sampling sites. About 40 per cent of the stones were of gem quality.
Gravity Diamonds Defines Potential Diamond Area
LONDON (Dow Jones)--Gravity Diamonds Thursday announced that it has defined a highly prospective area within its Kasai Craton diamond project in the Democratic Republic of Congo from final results of its 2004 kimberlitic indicator mineral ("KIM") sampling programme.
Within the 17,000 square kilometres of the Luebo area covered by stream sediment sampling, some 7,000 square kilometres have been defined for follow-up work including regions of extensive alluvial diamond mining. The area is currently being flown by the previously announced detailed aeromagnetic survey, with results due early next month.
Microprobe analysis of the KIMs, which include pyrope garnets, orange garnets, picro-ilmenites and chromite grains, shows that a significant number of the pyrope garnets are of the G10 category. These are believed to be an excellent indicator of diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes, states Gravity.
In addition, most of the identified KIMs are from the medium-coarse grained (0.425mm-2mm) fraction of the samples and many have their original surface texture preserved. This combination of grain size and surface texture indicates they have been subject to very little abrasion (i.e. transport) and, in all likelihood, are close to their kimberlitic source, the company adds.
Gravity also reports that 18 macrodiamonds (>0.425mm) have been recovered from 15 separate sampling sites. About 40% of the stones are white, colourless and with little or minor inclusions and fractures. Many have well-developed crystal shapes.
These results reinforce the company's initial report on the 2004 Kasai sampling programme earlier this year, when Gravity commented that finding garnets at so many sites at such an early stage in exploration was more meaningful than the presence of macrodiamonds.
The garnets are more likely to have been recycled from kimberlite pipes than younger formations, the company stated, whereas the diamonds, because of their extreme hardness, can survive all manner of recycling and do not necessarily indicate a kimberlite source in the vicinity.
Gravity says the aeromagnetic survey, which commenced in April, has been slightly modified to cover additional areas with positive KIM results which were not included in the original plan. Although the full data set from the survey is not expected until August, preliminary analysis of early results has revealed a number of potential kimberlite targets and planning is underway for follow-up drilling before year-end, it adds.
Gravity is earning a 100% interest in the tenements from BHP Billiton who retains a right to buy back control of any discovery under terms favourable to Gravity as previously disclosed to the market.
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