From: DiamondWorks Ltd. (DMW)
diamondworks.com
mailto:info@diamondworks.com
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Re: News Releases - Monday, July 06, 1998
DIAMONDWORKS BEGINS COMMERICAL PRODUCTION
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TORONTO AND VANCOUVER
STOCK EXCHANGES
TRADING SYMBOL: DMW
VANCOUVER, CANADA - Bruce Walsham, Chairman, President and CEO of
DiamondWorks Ltd., is pleased to announce that the company started commercial
diamond production at its new Yetwene mine in northeast Angola on June 29,
1998.
Mr. Walsham said that commissioning of the new diamond recovery plant was
completed successfully, and the plant is now operating at its design capacity
of 100 tonnes per hour. He expects that the first sale of diamonds from the
Yetwene mine will occur within the next six weeks. Diamonds from Yetwene will
be marketed in Antwerp in partnership with Endiama Selling Corporation, the
marketing arm of Angola's state diamond company.
DiamondWorks currently has in inventory approximately 10,000 carats from the
company's first Angolan diamond mine, the Luo, including the recently
recovered 232.6-carat stone. These diamonds will be sold in mid-July.
Beginning in August, the company's diamond sales from Luo and Yetwene are
expected to take place every five weeks, in conjunction with Endiama's
regular valuation dates.
Mr. Walsham also announced that Allan Thomas has been appointed as the
company's mine manager at Yetwene. Mr. Thomas has more than 20 years'
experience in the mining and oil industry, including 12 years operating
alluvial diamond mines in Angola.
DiamondWorks has produced approximately 65,000 carats at an average carat
value of more than US$200 from its Luo mine, which began commercial
operations in July 1997. The company expects that the combined alluvial
production from the Luo and Yetwene mines will total approximately 180,000
carats a year, with an average value of between US$200 and US$250 a carat.
In addition to its two producing diamond mines in Angola, DiamondWorks has
interests in other mineral properties in Angola, Lesotho, Sierra Leone,
Canada, China and Venezuela.
For further information, please contact Bill Trenaman at 604-669-8871, or
view DiamondWorks' website at diamondworks.com.
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Copyright (c) 1997, 1998 DIAMONDWORKS LTD. All rights reserved.
For more information, visit our website at the address
diamondworks.com
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