Afri-Can tops up till (August 19, 2003)

Junior Afri-Can Minerals (AFA-V) intends to raise $2.5 million to renew its search for marine diamonds off the coast of Namibia.

The company owns several concessions, though its focus has been on Block J, where expenditures since late 1999 have totalled $2.2 million. The property is 105 km north of the port of Luderitz, under 78-167 metres of seawater.

In 1998, Marine & Coastal Geoscience carried out a geophysical survey on a shallow, eastern sliver of the property to highlight favourable diamond traps. It was that potential that prompted Afri-Can to option and subsequently sample the property.

An initial reconnaissance survey by De Beers Marine, completed in early 2002, entailed collecting 338 samples from 728 sq. km of seafloor sediments. Of the 17 features tested, eight yielded a total of 23 gems, of which more than half came from so-called features 6 and 8.

Then in late 2002, follow-up sampling in feature 8 yielded 84 stones from 11 samples taken from the known mineralized area. The largest weighed 0.49 carat, slightly lighter (0.15 carat) than the heaviest gem picked in the previous program.

The diamonds are hosted by marine gravel lags, surf-zone gravels, and aeolian-fluvial gravels. The gravel lags, which are spread over 17.5 sq. km and had been attributed to late Pleistocene beach deposition, are now thought to represent eroded, Lower Tertiary-aged basal sandstones and conglomerates.

Feature 6 covers more than 3 sq. km of the inner shelf and is said to be geologically similar to features mined by Namibian Minerals. Namibian’s assets have since been sold off by liquidators (T.N.M., June 23/03).

Afri-Can owns 70% of Block J and can acquire controlling interests in four other nearby concessions. The remaining interest in Block J is held by Australian-based Woduna Mining Holding.

Afri-Can also holds a 60% stake in a 23,000-sq.-km marine concession farther south, on the border with South Africa. There, seawater depths range from 168 to 500 metres, and the target is a wedge of inland sediments deposited by the Orange River over the past 100 million years.

The southern part of the concession is opposite the present mouth of the Orange River, while the eastern edge abuts the western border of the Namdeb concessions, which are mined jointly by De Beers Marine and the Namibian government.

Exploration is limited to a geophysical survey performed by the Council of Geoscience Marine several years ago. More than 6,000 line-km were surveyed in the shallower, eastern part of the concession, resulting in the discovery of paleo-channels, old marine terraces, and incised valleys.

Afri-Can is offering 12.5 million units at 20 apiece, with a unit consisting of a share and half a warrant. The warrants expire three years after the deal closes, and a full one entitles the holder to buy a share at 30.

Afri-Can has received commitments for 11.5 million of the units, though it requires regulatory approval before it can sell any.

Afri-Can has 72.2 million shares outstanding.