AFRICA — Clear Creek eyes offshore diamonds

Newly listed Clear Creek Resources (CK-V) plans to start operations this year at its Good Hope diamond project, on the west coast of South Africa.

Although the company released a resource estimate for the offshore diamond project, the estimate was retracted at the request of the Vancouver Stock Exchange. Clear Creek now says its sampling program is at too early a stage to support public dissemination of reserve estimates. The company notes, however, that the underlying owner had recovered and sold 390 carats of diamonds from about 2,000 tons of gravel mined from four exploration pits at various locations on the concession.

The company’s lease covers a narrow stretch of coastline, about 2.7 km long and up to a maximum width of 400 metres. De Beers Consolidated Mines holds prospecting and mining rights surrounding the concession.

Clear Creek says it will cost US$250,000 to begin limited operations at a rate of 5,000 cubic metres per month.

The junior also holds an option to acquire a 100% interest in the Red Hat mining claims, which cover 30 ha of the Northern Midlands greenstone belt in Zimbabwe. Although the project is not being actively explored, Clear Creek says it has potential to host gold deposits similar to those mined there in the past. Red Hat also contains tailings, believed to grade between 1 and 3 grams gold, from past mining.