Lucapa Diamond Company (ASX:LOM) continues its drill program focused on kimberlite targets near and around Mining Block 8 located within the Lulo Diamond Project in Angola.
As outlined in July 2017, a systematic drilling program is testing priority kimberlite targets identified near the high-value Lulo alluvial diamond mining operations.
Since the September drilling update, a further eight targets have been drilled with kimberlite intersected in four of those targets – E3, E4, E6 and G510.
This cluster of targets is located along tributaries draining from the south west into and around the prolific Mining Block 8 area, from where US$61 million of diamonds have been recovered to date.
Drilling of the remaining targets in this cluster near Mining Block 8 will continue throughout the current December quarter.
Stephen Wetherall, managing director, commented
“Kimberlite exploration is a systematic process and our drilling teams continue to logically work through the priority kimberlite targets identified at Lulo with the aim of extracting kimberlite drill core for mineral chemistry analysis.
“It is very encouraging that we are discovering new kimberlite pipes in river tributaries feeding into our Mining Block 8 alluvial area, where we have already recovered and sold diamonds worth more than US$61 million and continue to recover large and premium-value gems.
“We continue to assess options to expand the scope and scale of our kimberlite exploration program and to reduce the turnaround times on mineral chemistry analysis of the core.”
Assays pending
Laboratory results from first batch of core samples are awaited and the second batch is to be selected for dispatch to Cape Town.
Drill target details
Kimberlite has been intersected in four of the eight recently drilled targets – E3, E4, E6 and G510.
Target E6 is located within ~800 metres of target G510 and is considered a smaller satellite kimberlite to G510.
Similarly, the kimberlite sill intersected in E3 is considered to be associated with the nearby E4 kimberlite.
Drilling continues and a deeper hole is also planned for the large L259 target, which was the subject of previous shallower drilling.