23rd Jun 2005 16:08
SouthernEra Diamonds Expands African Exploration Program Company in Discussions with Diamond Majors on Potential Joint Ventures Shares Issued and Outstanding: 102,066,601 TSX: SDM AIM: SRE TORONTO, June 23 /CNW/ - SouthernEra Diamonds Inc. ("SouthernEra")(TSX: SDM, AIM: SRE) announced today that the Company has expanded its Africanexploration program through the conclusion of a joint venture agreement withRockover Resources Limited over the Tsholotsho Diamond Project in Zimbabwe. The Tsholotsho Diamond Project is situated in western Zimbabwe andconsists of 21 granted and a further 7 "under application" prospecting permitscovering an area in excess of 14,000 km(2) underlain by basement Archaeangranite-gneiss of the Kalahari Craton. The Botswana/Zimbabwe border forms thewestern boundary of the permit area. This project area is considered highlyprospective for primary diamondiferous kimberlite deposits and lies withinwhat is known as the "Orapa Kimberlite Track", which is a southwest -northeast trending kimberlite emplacement corridor extending from Botswanainto Zimbabwe. The Orapa Kimberlite Track hosts some of the world's largest diamondmines, including De Beers' Orapa and Lethlekane diamond mines in Botswana,which together produce approx. 17 million carats per annum. Rio Tinto'srecently discovered Murowa diamond mine in Zimbabwe, situated some 170km tothe south-east of the Tsholotsho Diamond Project, is expected to produceapprox. 200,000 carats in 2005. Zimbabwe's diamond industry commenced with the discovery of alluvialdiamonds in 1903 followed by the discovery of the first diamondiferouskimberlite pipe, Colossus, in 1907. There are more than eighty knownkimberlite bodies in Zimbabwe, most discovered by Rio Tinto and DeBeers.Zimbabwe's first diamond mine, River Ranch, commenced production in the early1990's. Currently the bulk of Zimbabwe's diamond production is from RioTinto's Murowa diamond mine. The first phase of exploration at the Tsholotsho Diamond Project isfocused on locating the kimberlite sources to three geographically isolatedstream sediment kimberlitic indicator mineral anomalies, two of which containmicrodiamonds. These anomalies were discovered in the 1990's by goldexplorers. The area has never been prospected by Rio Tinto or De Beers. Areconnaissance program of loam sampling has already commenced within theanomalous areas and a regional sampling survey to test the potential of theentire project area is also currently underway. To fast track the program,SouthernEra has established an in-house sample processing laboratory inZimbabwe. In parallel, SouthernEra has processed approximately 200 archivedRockover Resources Limited gold concentrate samples from the TsholotshoDiamond Project at its South Africa-based in-house laboratory. More than fiftyof these samples have to date returned positive kimberlitic indicator mineralsresults, including some with diamond inclusion mineral chemistry. In addition, joint venture partner Rockover Resources has made availableto SouthernEra the magnetic data from six airborne surveys previouslyconducted over the project area. The data has been reprocessed by SouthernEraand is currently being evaluated for kimberlite targets. SouthernEra is able to earn up to a 100 percent interest in the projectthrough the funding of a multi-year exploration program and by paying RockoverResources a sliding scale royalty linked to the dollar per tonne rock value ofany discovery. SouthernEra also reported today that the Company is currently engaged indiscussions with global diamond majors which may result in the conclusion ofjoint venture agreements over some of the Company's exploration projects.Shareholders will be kept informed of developments in this regard. Uwe Naeher, Professional Geologist, is the qualified person under NI 43-101 responsible for the information in this release. Zimbabweis one of six countries in which SouthernEra is engaged indiamond exploration. Advanced exploration is also underway in Canada,Australia, the DRC, Gabon and South Africa. The Company also operates theKlipspringer Diamond Mine in South Africa and maintains an 18 percent free-carried interest in the Camafuca Diamond Project in Angola. This representsthe fourth most active global diamond program after the majors DeBeers, BHPBand RioTinto. Some statements contained in this news release are forward-looking and,therefore, involve uncertainties or risks that could cause actual results todiffer materially. Such forward-looking statements include comments regardingexploration work. Actual results could differ materially from thoseanticipated. The Company disclaims any obligation to update forward-lookingstatements. For further information: SouthernEra Diamonds Inc., Howard Bird, VicePresident Exploration, or Sharon Allan, Investor Relations, Telephone:(416) 359-9282, Fax: (416) 359-9141, E-mail: inbox(at)southernera.com,www.southernera.com (SDM. SRE) ENDSOUTHERNERA DIAMONDS INCRelated Shares:
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