GLOBAL SEARCH FOR DIAMONDS — Kimberley Res. recovers diamonds from Down Under

To date, Kimberley Resources (KIM-V) has recovered 150 diamonds from its projects in Western Australia.

The total weight of the diamonds, recovered from bulk-sampling operations during 1996-97, is just under 40 carats.

A 69-tonne sample from Pit 24 yielded three diamonds weighing a combined 0.94 carat, whereas a 201-tonne sample from Pit 28 (where processing is not yet complete) yielded seven diamonds weighing a combined 2.25 carats.

The most important find, however, was 40 diamonds weighing 10.03 carats from a 192-tonne sample collected in the Dome Hill area.

Most of these diamonds were of gem quality, with the largest stone weighing 0.94 carat and seven weighing more than half a carat each.

Dome Hill is part of the Ellendale South project, which occupies a tenement held in joint venture with a unit of Australian-based Auridiam Consolidated.

Kimberley can earn up to a 60% interest in the project by spending $1.8 million on the lease area.

Reconnaissance exploration by Kimberley indicates that Dome Hill may be part of an east-west-trending paleochannel which has tapped the southeastern section of the Ellendale lamproite field. Kimberley geologists suspect that this paleochannel runs across the Ellendale South area and into Kimberley’s Blina tenements, which lie immediately to the west.

While the parcel of diamonds collected from Dome Hill is too small to provide a valuation, the grade indicated by the recent sampling is extremely encouraging, Kimberley states. The company plans to conduct further exploration to define the extent of the paleochannel and identify possible regional trap sites.

The first 100 diamonds from Kimberley’s projects in Western Australia came from Blina. These stones had an aggregate weight of 26.64 carats. The largest of the recently found diamonds weighed 0.74, 0.58 and 0.5 carat.

These diamonds were identified from prospecting pits excavated east and west of Pit 5, on the same gravel terrace.

At this stage, diamonds larger than 0.5 carat have been recovered from pits to the west of Pit 5, though no diamonds weighing more than 0.2 carat have been recovered from samples east of this site. Kimberley believes the lamproite source of the larger diamonds is “quite close” to Pit 5; it is now undertaking intensive exploration for the lamproite source.

Kimberley Resources had been known as Kimberley Diamond until July 1997, when a 1-for-5 share swap and name change took place. South African major JCI holds an 11.6% interest in Kimberley Resources.