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| | Lesotho - Mothae Diamond Project
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| | License Details: A mining license has been granted until September 2019 and renewable for a further 10 years. The license covers 20.0 km2.
Ownership: 75%
The Mothae Diamond Project is a 20.0 square kilometre concession located in one of the most prolific diamond producing regions in the world. The project hosts a large diamondiferous kimberlite pipe with an estimated surface extent of 8.8 hectares and is located adjacent to and directly on trend with the world-famous Letseng diamond mine.
Letseng is a high-value, large tonnage, low-grade diamond mine operated by De Beers from 1976 to 1982 and recently put back into production by Gem Diamond Mining Company. Letseng has a reputation for producing very large, high quality type IIA diamonds. In late 2006 the recovery of the 603 carat "Lesotho Promise" attracted wide media attention. This stone is the fifteenth largest diamond ever found in the world and was sold for greater than US$12.3 million or US$20,500 per carat. A 216 carat almost flawless white D colour stone was reported in February 2007 and is expected to garner an even higher value per carat. A production grade of 1.9 carats per 100 tonnes has been achieved at Letseng since 2004 and approximately 100,700 carats of diamonds have been recovered at an average current value of US$1,380 per carat. Other similar kimberlites in southern Africa are the low-grade (now mined out) Jagersfontein kimberlite and the Premier Mine, producer of the world's largest diamond, the Cullinan, which is a type IIA.
In 2010, the Company commenced a trial mining program, based on results from the 100,000 tonne bulk sample completed in 2009. The trial mining program is designed to sample and process up to 720,000 tonnes of kimberlite from various kimberlite domains which have been identified within the pipe to confirm geological potential, the presence of the high value Type lla diamonds and achieve true price discovery through periodic diamond sales by open tender.
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