27th Oct 2005 10:40
Petra Diamonds Ld27 October 2005 Petra Diamonds Limited Alto Cuilo - further new magnetic anomalies identified Petra Diamonds Limited ("Petra" or "the Company"), the AIM-quoted and ASX-listeddiamond mining group, announces the identification of a new major magneticanomaly (148 hectares interpreted surface area) at the Alto Cuilo project innorth eastern Angola and a substantial increase in the number of other knownmagnetic anomalies (from 69 to 219). In July this year a low level Midas helicopter survey was undertaken and Petraadvised that further news would follow when the data from the survey had beenfully processed. The processing and analysis of the data acquired from the Midassurvey is now complete and has resulted in the identification of a major newanomaly (anomaly 70) which is estimated from the magnetic data acquired from theMidas survey to be approximately 148 hectares in size and is locatedapproximately 4 kilometres from the kimberlitic cluster previously announced bythe Company. Processing of the Midas survey data has also added significantly to the numberof other magnetic anomalies previously identified at Alto Cuilo, with theoriginal 69 anomalies identified in the previous fixed wing survey nowincreasing substantially to 219 from the current Midas survey. A magnetic image of these anomalies can be viewed at www.petradiamonds.com Work on the alluvial programme continues with a further three bulk sampleshaving been processed. Approximately 2,403 tonnes were treated from these threebulk samples to recover 237 diamonds totaling 60.30 carats (bottom screen sizeof 2mm). The largest stones were 1.87, 1.57 and 1.27 carats. The diamondsrecovered continue to reflect the high gem quality recovered in previoussamples. Adonis Pouroulis, Petra's Chairman, commented, "We are delighted to havediscovered a new major magnetic anomaly at Alto Cuilo, again larger in footprintthan the entire 109 hectare (about 115 million tonne) deposit delineated todate. Work continues apace at Alto Cuilo, where the combined technicalfirepower of Petra and BHP Billiton has successfully uncovered a stream of newkimberlite anomalies this year. Alto Cuilo is a project offering exceptionaldiamond prospectivity, as also demonstrated by the results of the alluvial bulksampling, and we will continue to fast track our development programme." Ends For further information, please contact: Parkgreen Communications, London Justine Howarth / Cathy Malins Tel +44 20 7493 3713 Petra Diamonds, Perth John Baillie Tel +61 8 9381 8888 Field PR, Adelaide Kevin Skinner Tel +61 8 8234 9555 Mobile +61 414 822 631 Notes to Editors: In December 2004 Petra implemented a formal Joint Venture Agreement with BHPBilliton World Exploration Inc ('BHP Billiton') regarding the Alto Cuilo diamondproject in north eastern Angola. Under the terms of the Joint VentureAgreement, BHP Billiton can, by investing up to US$60 million in Petra DiamondsAlto Cuilo Limited, the JV vehicle ('Vehicle') which holds Petra's share in AltoCuilo, acquire a share of up to 75% of the Vehicle. Petra continues to yield exploration success at Alto Cuilo, with the discoveryof several major kimberlitic anomalies in 2005. A low-level Midas helicoptersurvey, carried out in July and August this year, identified new anomalies of26, 60 and 125 hectares in surface area, these discoveries being in addition tothe existing 109 hectares (115 million tonne) deposit identified by Petra in2004. These four anomalies give an approximate total area of 320 hectares. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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