Peace draws explorers back to West Africa

Diamond explorers are returning to Sierra Leone and neighbouring West African countries amid signs that political stability is taking hold in the region after years of civil war.

Several Canadian juniors, some with new names and fresh infusions of cash, are among those willing to re-adopt the still-considerable risks in exchange for the potential riches on offer in West Africa’s diamond fields.

Most of the renewed activity is taking place in Sierra Leone, where sales of “blood diamonds” — diamonds smuggled out of the country to fund the rebel army — financed a decade-long civil war that killed tens of thousands of civilians and destroyed the infrastructure of the country before ending in 2002.

The following year, Sierra Leone adopted, with some success, the Kimberley Process, an international agreement which requires that all rough diamonds be certified “conflict-free” before leaving their country of origin.

As a result of this and previous certification schemes, established as early as 2000 in Sierra Leone, official exports of diamonds jumped to US$75 million in 2003, up from next to nothing in 1999, according to Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), a coalition of Canadian and African non-governmental organizations.

“National control mechanisms are extremely weak, however, and even government officials admit that diamond smuggling is still substantial, perhaps even bigger than legitimate exports,” says PAC in a recent in-depth review of the country’s diamond industry.

Despite the ongoing challenges associated with certification and regulating alluvial diamond deposits, companies are establishing concrete exploration and production plans in what they consider underexplored territory, where some of the world’s largest and highest-quality stones are known to occur.

Sierra Leone has even been issued a vote of confidence by senior BHP Billiton (BHP-N), which recently signed a US$3.4-million memorandum of agreement with U.K-based Mano River Resources (MNO-V) to explore for diamonds and other minerals on Mano’s 9,700-sq.-km prospecting licence in the southeast.

Under the agreement, BHP will conduct a licence-wide reconnaissance mapping and stream-sampling survey. If the results are encouraging, the partners will establish a formal joint venture to carry out more detailed work, including drilling of any kimberlites they find.

Sierra Leone Diamond Co. of Bermuda (SLDJF-Q), formerly African Diamond Holdings and based in Calgary, Alta., is also on the hunt for diamond-bearing kimberlites, mostly in the northeastern part of the country. The company is flying a high-resolution aeromagnetic survey over its 14,600-sq.-km land package, financed by two recent private placements that raised a total of approximately US$6 million.

“The country has never been mapped by any modern means,” says a Calgary spokesman for Sierra Leone Diamond. “The aeromagnetic survey allows us to cover a large area and get some general information about the geology below us.”

Concurrent with the geophysics program, the junior is sampling all of its properties for evidence of diamonds, both primary and alluvial.

Also making a fresh start in Sierra Leone is Energem Resources (DMW-T), formerly DiamondWorks. Along with private partner Magma Diamond Resources, Energem has invested US$14.5 million in bringing the Koidu kimberlites in the eastern part of the country into production. The property is held 40% by Energem, 35% by Magma and 25% by BSG Resources.

Since resuming production in January, Energem has to date sold 18,162 carats of Koidu diamonds priced at US$224 per carat. Two pipes there contain indicated and inferred resources of 1.6 million tonnes grading 0.67 carat per tonne and 3.1 million tonnes grading 0.40 carat per tonne, respectively. There are also four known dykes and a 50-tonne-per-hour dense-media-separation plant on the property.

To add to its diamond interests in the country, Energem has picked up the Tongo Fields, south of Koidu. The 90-sq.-km property was held by Rex Diamond Mining (RXD-T) before the government suspended Rex’s licence and put the property up for tender.

The Tongo lease contains four narrow (20-to-50-cm), diamond-bearing kimberlite dykes that extend to a depth of at least 500 metres and are believed to contain several million carats of diamonds. Energem hopes to revive production in the historical diamond field, just as it did at Koidu.

Sierra Leone’s Archean Man Craton, where most of West Africa’s best diamonds are found, spills over into the western portion of neighbouring Liberia. It is believed that diamond-bearing kimberlitic magmas intruded into this thick granite-schist craton during the Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago.

Mano inks deal

Liberia’s untapped potential has not escaped the attention of Mano River, which recently signed an agreement with Liberia’s mines ministry to explore for gold and diamonds on 15,000 sq. km ground contiguous with Mano’s licence in Sierra Leone. Mano also has a cluster of diamondiferous kimberlite pipes in Liberia under joint venture with Trans Hex Group.

According to Mano, the only significant diamond exploration in Liberia took place in the 1960s and 1970s, when De Beers and the UNDP discovered numerous ilmenite-bearing kimberlite dykes and one small pipe at Mano Godua.

Citing “increasing political stability” in Liberia, where a peace accord was signed last year, Diamond Fields International (DFI-T) recently joined Mano River in the country. DFI’s Nimba diamond concession covers approximately 2,000 sq. km in northeastern Liberia and hosts several artisanal diamond workings. The company, which also holds extensive diamond concessions in Sierra Leone, says its exploration work will focus on finding the source of these alluvial diamonds.

Despite the enthusiasm of mining companies, Liberia remains a dangerous place to work. According to the The Economist’s Annual Survey of the World, Liberia was the “worst place to live” in 2003.

Digging for diamonds is ongoing farther north, in Guinea. Guinea is also partially underlain by the Archean craton, which hosts the diamond-bearing kimberlites in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

SearchGold Resources (RSG-V) recently discovered three large diamonds on its Mandela River project. The stones weighed 7.26-21.47 carats and were recovered by bulk sampling on an 80.75%-owned permit area that covers three known alluvial diamond deposits and half of a fourth one.

SearchGold’s permit, where the junior has recovered more than 8,000 gem and near-gem quality diamonds, lies 40 km south of Trivalence Mining‘s (TMI-V) 85%-owned Aredor alluvial diamond operation, where Trivalence is investing in new equipment and increasing production rates to 100 tonnes per hour.

— The author is a Toronto-based geologist and freelance writer specializing in mining and the environment.