FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SEPTEMBER 11, 1997
DIAMONDWORKS TO SELL 10,000-CARAT PARCEL
OF ANGOLAN DIAMONDS IN ANTWERP
VANCOUVER, CANADA - Bruce Walsham, Chairman and CEO of DiamondWorks Ltd., announced today that a 33.59-carat diamond is expected to be among a parcel of some 10,000 carats of alluvial diamonds, recovered from DiamondWorks' Luo concession in northeast Angola, that the company will offer at its inaugural sale in Antwerp later this month.
DiamondWorks will accept bids for the parcel, totalling more than 30,000 diamonds, following a sighting for buyers to be held in Antwerp during the week of September 22. The sale has been sanctioned by Endiama, the Angolan government-owned diamond agency, which must approve all foreign sales.
The gem-quality 33.59-carat stone, a white octahedron, was recovered last week. It is the largest diamond recovered by DiamondWorks since it started commercial mining operations at its Luo concession in northeast Angola in July.
DiamondWorks' Antwerp parcel also will include 27 other high-quality diamonds which are larger than 10 carats, including two stones larger than 27 carats.
DiamondWorks plans to conduct monthly diamond sales of its production from Angola beginning in November. Commercial production at the Luo concession began in mid-July. Since then, production rates have averaged about 150 carats a day. DiamondWorks expects diamond production from Luo to increase in the coming weeks following recent modifications to the diamond recovery plant that have boosted the average daily throughput considerably. The modified plant has been operating at rates up to 45 cubic metres of alluvial gravel an hour, well above its designed capacity of 35 cubic metres an hour.
Evaluation drilling at the Camagico and Camatchia diamond pipes at Luo is now underway. Twenty holes, to be drilled on a 50-metre grid, are initially planned for the Camatchia pipe. The drilling will provide additional data on the grade of the pipes as well as delineate the actual size of the two pipes which are currently among the 12 largest known diamond pipes in the world. Half cores of the drill intersections will be subjected to diamond tests, with initial results available in October.
Bateman Engineering, of Johannesburg, is constructing DiamondWorks' second Dense Media Separation (DMS) and pre-wash plants. The new plants will be installed at DiamondWorks' Yetwene diamond concession, located 100 km north of the Luo concession, in Angola. DiamondWorks expects to begin commercial alluvial mining operations at Yetwene in the first half of 1998. When Yetwene is in full operation, DiamondWorks' monthly production of diamonds from the Luo and Yetwene concessions is projected to reach approximately 14,000
carats, establishing an annualized level of around 170,000 carats from the first two of the company's five diamond concessions in Angola.
The company holds a number of other key development and exploration diamond properties in Sierra Leone and Canada, and has interests in five gold and polymetallic exploration ventures in China and in various gold exploration properties in Venezuela.
DiamondWorks' shares trade on the Toronto and Vancouver stock exchanges under the symbol DMW.
For further information, please contact: Bill Trenaman, Investor Relations at 604-669-8871, or view DiamondWorks website at diamondworks.com. |
