AFRICA — Global still finding plenty of diamonds in South Africa

San Diego-based Global Diamond Resources (GDRS-O) is forging ahead with two advanced-stage projects and a bulk sample program at its diamond properties in South Africa.

Of the three properties, the most advanced is the Grasdrif. The company is earning a 50% interest in the project, which is on the Orange River, near the Namibian border. Much of the site’s infrastructure, including housing, offices, shops and roads, has been completed, and mining equipment is expected to arrive in mid-February. A dense media separation plant is expected to arrive by the end of the month.

Earth moving could begin in mid-March, starting in a higher-grade portion of the alluvial deposit, where the Orange river emerges from a canyon. The company determined, in 1997, that the 2,300-ha property contains 81 million tonnes of gravel with an average grade of 1.5 carats per 100 tonnes.

The processing plant should be up and running by the end of March, with the first diamond shipment coming as early as April.

At the Caerwinning alluvial deposit, situated at the confluence of the Vaal and Harts rivers, Global is adding a final recovery plant to the existing operations.

Currently, throughput is nominal, about 100 tonnes per day using manual sorting. Global plans to install flow sorters, which employ x-ray fluorescence, and grease tables to boost capacity to 1,000 tonnes per day.

The company also plans to add another shift to the operation by June, thereby increasing capacity to 2,000 tonnes per day. Currently, there is only one shift per day.

Some 50 km north of Pretoria, Global is preparing to take an underground bulk sample from the Montrose kimberlite pipe.

The small pipe covers only 1.5 ha, 8 km south of DeBeers Consolidated Mining’s Premier diamond mine. That operation has been in production since 1902, and has produced many of the world’s largest diamonds.

The company intends to deepen the shaft at Montrose to 35 metres. In addition, Global will extract a 5,000-tonne bulk sample to confirm both grade and price, which were calculated when mining last occurred there in the 1920s. Results from the sampling program are expected by the end of August.

Global will then decide whether to proceed with a full feasibility study. A positive outcome could signal the resumption of mining there by 2000. To date, Global has delineated 9 million tonnes of kimberlite to a depth of 400 metres.