West African diamond explorer Stellar Diamonds has raised US$1.4mn in a share issue to support its Baoulé kimberlite project in Guinea
Karl Smithson, chief executive of Stellar Diamonds, said, “With revenues from our first diamond sale of a 5,900-carat parcel expected in the near-term this placement strengthens the company’s balance sheet at a time when capital markets in the junior sector are notoriously weak.”
Smithson added that the recent share issue emphasises the value of existing shareholders such as UBS Deutscheland, which is the company’s second largest shareholder, and took 62.4mn of the newly issued shares, lifting its stake to 15.58 per cent.
Stellar Diamonds expects to continue to yield approximately 2,000 carats per month, and regular diamond exports and sales are expected during 2015.
Trial mining at Baoule kimberlite has yielded a total of 2.145 carats at an average grade of 15 chpt. High quality gems have been recovered, including stones of 8.5 carats and 6.6 carats.
