NEWS
Mountain Lake Resources Inc - News Release
Etruscan, Mountain Lake twinkle over 3,948 diamonds
Mountain Lake Resources Inc MOA
Shares issued 14,567,314 Mar 6 2002 close $.310
Thursday Mar 7 2002 News Release
Mr. Kevin MacNeill reports
ETRUSCAN RESOURCES INC./ MOUNTAIN LAKE RESOURCES INC. - GEM Q ...
Etruscan Resources and Mountain Lake Resources have continued to receive positive results from the Ventersdorp diamond project in South Africa. A total of 3,948 gem-quality diamonds weighing 4,293 carats have been recovered from continuing small-scale contract mining operations at the Hartbeestlaagte 146 property since February, 2000. The average size of the gem-quality diamonds is 1.09 carats and the average value is $400 (U.S.) per carat. The largest diamond recovered to date on the Hartbeestlaagte 146 property weighed 16.5 carats.
The small-scale contract mining operation consisted of 16 pits dug over a three-kilometre portion of the 15-kilometre-long East Run alluvial gravel deposit. A total of 252,000 tonnes of gravel, representative of the shallow and deeper gravel, has been mined and processed. The diamond grade of the gravel, based on surveyed volumes and declared diamonds, is 1.70 carats per 100 tonnes and substantiates the grade, quality and value parameters built into Etruscan's initial economic model which incorporated a grade of 1.60 carats per hundred tonnes at an average value of $400 (U.S.) per carat. Gem-quality diamonds were recovered from every pit and individual stones weighing greater than five carats were recovered from all pits. The program will continue to test other areas of the deposit.
As previously announced, construction has commenced on the initial phase gravel processing and diamond recovery plant on the Nooitgedacht 131 property, which is 100-per-cent owned by Etruscan and Mountain Lake. Etruscan, the operator of the project, will begin to mine and recover diamonds from the East Run alluvial gravel deposit at a rate of 4,000 tonnes per day in September, 2002.
Gerald McConnell and Allen Sheito, respectively president and chief executive officers of Etruscan and Mountain Lake jointly stated, "Construction of the initial plant is progressing well. Our objective is to optimize the mining and processing methods of the gravels in the initial phase and then rapidly expand the operation to develop the full extent of the deposits in the Ventersdorp District. This will require several additional plants, and this initial operation will provide the key technical parameters for the size and location of those plants."
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Cheers,
JR. |
