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Kopane Diamond Developments

Kopane’s Main Pipe now worth US$2.5 billion

A new resource statement for the Liqhobong Main Pipe, released today by Lesotho-focused Kopane Diamond Developments, has more than doubled the value of the project to US$2.5 billion.

The statement - part of the on-going Definitive Feasibility Study - was prepared by ACA Howe International following a programme of narrow diameter drilling and bulk sampling designed to test stone grade and distribution and to define more clearly the dimensions of the Main Pipe structure.

The results of the core drilling have led to a major recalculation of the dimensions of the Main Pipe, which has allowed the definition of a significantly larger resource tonnage. Last year's PFS estimated 42 million tonnes of diamond-bearing kimberlite, which has now been upgraded to more than 75 million tonnes, a 79 percent improvement. Kopane stress that this tonnage is calculated only down to 420 metres below surface, whilst previous drilling has shown that the mineralisation extends to at least 650 metres below surface and is still open at depth.

The diamond grade and distribution figures have also been substantially enhanced by the bulk sampling. Samples totalling almost 34,000 tonnes of kimberlite were taken from the four different diamond-bearing sections of the pipe - known as K2, K4, K5 and K6 - to define more clearly the grade and distribution of run-of-mine stones. The samples yielded 12,514 carats of diamonds above 1 mm in size, at an average grade of just over 39 carats per hundred tonnes, as opposed to the earlier estimate of 27.8 cpht. Independent valuation of the sample parcels showed another big improvement over the figures used for the PFS, and the average carat value has risen from US$70 to US$86 per carat.

This grade enhancement, coupled with the increased tonnage, has generated a 156% increase in the gross diamond resource to 29.576 million carats from the 11.5 million previously defined. And at US$86 per carat, that means the indicative value of the Main Pipe - of which 75 percent is owned by Kopane - has jumped from just over US$1 billion to an impressive US$2.5 billion.

Further improvements to the resources at Liqhobong are expected early next year, when the results of the recently completed large diameter drilling programme will enable the uplift of inferred resources into the measured/indicated category.

Executive Chairman Tim Read commented: "This interim resource statement represents the first component of our Definitive Feasibility Study and clearly shows that the Liqhobong Main Pipe is a much larger and richer resource than was initially contemplated. We look forward to the publication of the final statement, early in the new year, which, following the completion of the treatment of the LDD samples, should show a substantial increase in the measured and indicated categories of the resource."