Brazilian Diamonds Limited: Corporate Update
Thursday January 27, 6:01 pm ET
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Jan. 27, 2005) - Brazilian Diamonds Limited (TSX:BDY - News; AIM:BDY)
1. TUCANO 1 KIMBERLITE DRILLING PRODUCES MICRODIAMONDS.
2. DRILLING CONTINUES TO DELINEATE SIZE AND SHAPE OF KIMBERLITE.
3. ADJACENT ANOMALIES BECOME PRIORITY DRILL TARGETS
The Directors of Brazilian Diamonds Limited ("Brazilian" or the "Company") are pleased to announce that late on 26 January 2005, the Company received preliminary microdiamond test results from the discovery drill hole at the Tucano 1 kimberlite, located in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) of Canada has reported that after processing 66.9 kg of submitted material, comprising 3 samples, a total of 182 microdiamonds were recovered with an aggregate weight of 0.573 milligrams (0.00287 carats). Further details of the testing of core recovered from the first hole drilled at Tucano, are provided later in this announcement.
The material reported tested by SRC was collected from a half split drill core over the interval 1.9 to 135 metres vertical depth and is interpreted to represent two separate phases of kimberlite. Both interpreted kimberlite phases yielded microdiamonds, with 35 recovered from the upper phase (17.35 kg) and 147 from the lower phase (49.55 kg). The sample collected from the lower phase was processed in 6 batches which yielded between 1 and 90 microdiamonds apiece. The batch that yielded 90 microdiamonds suffered a damaged screen during processing, resulting in the loss of 60% of the control test "spiked grains" SRC employs for as its Quality Control. This suggests that full recovery from that batch would have likely led to a significantly larger microdiamond count.
The results reported in this announcement were recovered using the sieve sizes reported below:
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Sieve size (microns) # of microdiamonds recovered
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+ 300 1
+ 212 1
+ 150 7
+ 106 67
+ 75 106
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Drilling of the discovery drill hole was terminated at a total vertical depth of 190 m and has been interpreted to have passed through a third kimberlite phase which has not yet been tested for microdiamonds. After completing of the first drill hole, a second hole from the same surface location was drilled to the south at a 45 degree inclination to a total depth of 90 metres and this also ended inside kimberlite. A third hole is currently being drilled to the north at a 45 degree inclination from the same surface location and is currently at a depth of 45 m and still in kimberlite.
After completion of detailed core logging in the next week, each additional phase and drill hole will be sent to SRC to be processed for microdiamonds. Dr. Harrison Cookenboo (P.Geo) was responsible for logging the discovery drill hole and supervised sampling of the drill core at the Company's Patos de Minas mineral processing laboratory. He is a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101.
Two additional magnetic anomalies in close proximity to the Tucano 1 kimberlite will now be drill tested following completion of this third inclined hole. The first of these anomalies is currently being tested by auger drilling and the Company's field crews have reported they have identified kimberlite at a vertical depth of 8 m.
Brazilian Diamonds considers the microdiamonds recovered from the Tucano 1 discovery hole to represent a significant advance in its on-going program of kimberlite exploration in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil. This is the first of three kimberlite targets in the immediate vicinity of Tucano, each of which can be expected to contain multiple phases, with the possibility of different diamond contents in each phase.
The indicator mineral chemistry of samples taken downstream from the Tucano targets was interpreted prior to drilling, as promising and this has now been confirmed by these microdiamond results. Other even more promising indicator mineral targets are currently being pursued by the company in historically significant diamond producing regions of Minas Gerais where the Company holds licenses on which more than 140 kimberlites have been identified.
The recently acquisition of substantial exploration databases from the De Beers group is assisting the Company to rapidly evaluate and prioritise a significant number of these prospective targets. The test results now received will greatly assist in refining and developing the Company's scientific model for diamondiferous kimberlite chemistry in the Minas Gerais region of Brazil which is famous for having produced large numbers of high value, gem quality alluvial diamonds over many years.
Speaking today, Mr. Kenneth Judge, Chairman of Brazilian Diamonds said "The discovery today of microdiamonds in the Tucano 1 kimberlite body marks a very significant moment in the history of Brazilian Diamonds. Over the past three years the Company has pursued a strategy of acquiring strategic mineral licenses and exploration databases and upgrading the Patos de Minas laboratory while moving from the original strategy of alluvial production towards hard rock kimberlite exploration. The internationally respected technical team now assembled in Brazil under the leadership of Stephen Fabian, with significant input from our geological consultant Dr. Harrison Cookenboo, has now achieved results which demonstrate the value and prospectivity of this hard work.
Brazilian Diamonds has assembled a very large portfolio of licenses which are highly prospective for kimberlites with more than 140 already identified. With the infrastructure we now have in place we can rapidly evaluate and rank each of these targets for drill testing and are therefore optimistic that this first discovery drill hole represents the beginning of a new and very significant phase in our exploration for primary sources of diamonds in Brazil."
Editors' Note:
Brazilian Diamonds is a leading Brazil-based exploration company whose main purpose is the discovery of kimberlites on its extensive properties of 230,000 hectares in the State of Minas Gerais, with the goal of becoming a significant producer of diamonds. The company has a fully operational diamond analysis laboratory at Patos de Minas, Minas Gerais which is strategically located near to its properties in the Santo Antonio and Coromandel areas. The company has a staff of 66 almost all of who are located at the company's facilities in Brazil and this staff includes 5 full time geologists. Slightly over 3% of the company's shares are owned by De Beers Group, which acquired the shares in late 2004 in exchange for its exploration data covering properties owned by Brazilian Diamonds.
The company's strategy for non-core activities on its properties is to form joint ventures: it has a gold exploration joint venture at Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, with Hidefield Gold PLC and a Cdn$800,000 feasibility study is currently underway for a joint venture for the mining of alluvial diamonds on its properties in the Santo Antonio river drainage with two important Brazilian companies: CODEMIG, the state owned mining development organisation and Mineracao Rio Novo Ltda., a wholly owned subsidiary of Andrade Gutierrez SA, one of the country's largest civil engineering firms.
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