Liberia - Jean-Raymond Boulle Corporations, DFI
In July 2004, the Company entered into an option agreement with Ducor Minerals Inc. pursuant to which it may earn a 70% interest in Ducor's rights under two Mineral Exploration Agreements between Ducor and the Republic of Liberia (the Gbapolu (Grand York) and Grand Gedeh Properties), covering a total area of 1813.72 km2, which are prospective for diamonds and gold. Pursuant to this agreement, the Company is required to issue to Ducor a total of up to 1,000,000 common shares in five annual instalments of 200,000 shares each, and spend $2,000,000 on exploration before August 2008. Ducor has the right to request $30,000 in lieu of one-half of each annual stock issuance, and DFI has the right to pay $60,000 in lieu of one-half of each annual stock issuance. To date DFI has made four instalments to Ducor by issuing a total of 400,000 common shares and paying the total sum of US$120,000.
Exploration Licenses
The Grand Cape Property is a 1,095 km2 property located in the western part of Liberia adjacent to recent kimberlite discoveries by Mano River Resources. The Grand Gedeh Property is a 719 km2 concession that is located in north central Liberia along the Cestos shear, a regional geological feature. These properties have been explored by DFI's reconnaissance team of Liberian geologists.
The Grand Cape property exploration program commenced in January 2005, with a reconnaissance stream sediment sampling program to explore for primary kimberlite. Artisinal diamond mining in the area was targeted initially with geologists tracking drainages feeding artisinal diamond mining sites. Sampling recovered G10 (diamond inclusion chemistry) garnets from the beginning. By the end of June 2006 the program had collected 599 stream sediment samples, excavated and sampled 66 prospecting pits and completed over 40 line kilometres of grid cutting and collection of over 500 soil samples over 3 dyke targets and two kimberlite pipe targets. In April 2006 a brief geophysical program sensing magnetic response was run over two of the dyke targets and the kimberlite pipe target with positive results. Sampling and pitting has taken place over a three kilometre dyke trend with two parallel dykes approximately 150m apart, and 3 macro diamonds (0.08 ct, 0.1 ct and 0.22 ct) were recovered during the pitting program. The Company is investigating the possibility of a joint venture for deployment of a bulk diamond sampling plant to Liberia to facilitate secure analysis of large (>1000 kg) samples of kimberlite. The development program for the kimberlites identified so far and for subsequent targets, including drilling to establish geometries and tonnage would then be predicated on bulk sample results.
The Grand Gedeh property hosts the Barteajam gold workings (the Bartea is a Brazilian gold pan used by Liberian miners), an artisinal mining site where miners have been recovering coarse gold from the weathered regolith. Mapping of the workings indicates that they continue for over 5km along strike, broken by intervening swamps. The property has received a first pass of reconnaissance sampling, collecting 97 reconnaissance stream sediment and soil samples. An initial sampling grid at 50m x 100m spacing has been established over a portion of the workings, and an additional 177 samples have been collected there. Thick cover of regolith (weathered bedrock) in excess of 15 m thick makes mapping of the mineralized structures difficult and geologists have not yet discovered what controls the Barteajam mineralization. Reconnaissance sampling has found the anomaly across strike, outside the area of current mining suggesting a more tabular shape to the deposit. A program of vertical sampling of pit walls was undertaken in July 2006 to characterize the mineralization in that dimension. Follow up work will include overburden drilling to define the limits of the deposit and analysis to establish grade and tonnage.
Artisanal Diggings
In April 2006 DFI geologists discovered visible gold in streams draining the vicinity of the main Cestos shear along the western side of the property. Follow up work led to a grid sampling program over an area of 1.5 km x 1 km. Results from processing of those samples were disappointing given the preponderance of visible gold in locally collected stream sediment samples. A follow up program in the field will investigate sampling methods including depth of pits excavated to produce the initial samples, tighter grid spacing and more detailed stream sediment work.
During 2007 the Company changed its exploration strategy from regional assessment to specific evaluation of identified exploration targets. The current focus of activity has been on a gold anomaly within the Henry Town region of the Grand Cape property, where native gold is exploited by local artisans, which previously returned gold values of up to 13g/t gold in DFI's grab samples. The gold is contained in quartz veins associated with a Birrimian (Proterozoic) age transgressive left lateral shear zone, which boudinages and juxtaposes basement gneisses and supracrustal lithologies.
Initial sampling indicates a possible maximum width of mineralization across the shear zone of up to 500 metres, with a possible semi-continuous strike length of over 7 km. To constrain the possible extent of mineralisation, an exhaustive soil sampling program over the entire western extension of the shear zone was undertaken on a 40 metre by 200 metre grid, yielding in excess of 1,400 samples. The samples are currently being analysed by fire assay in an accredited laboratory in Mali, and results are expected to be available by the end of October 2007. Although limited in number, initial results returned from the laboratory are encouraging with up to 12.75ppm gold being returned.
DFI expects to commence a trench sampling program later this year across the most promising parts of the mineralized shear zone, with a follow up drilling program provisionally scheduled for the early part of 2008. In addition, two other promising gold shows, the Cestos Shear and the Barteajam anomalies, both of which are worked for artisanal gold are scheduled for detailed investigation later this year with the commencement of the next dry field season.
Source: http://www.diamondfields.com/s/WestAfrica.asp
Date: 24th September 2009
via boullevortal.com
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