Stellar Diamond Frustrated Over Kono Licence Dispute

PUBLISHED: 12 Apr 2012 @ 16:27 | Comments (0) |

Stellar Diamond (LSE:STEL), a West-African focused diamond mining and exploration company, announced today that its licences in the Kono region of Sierra Leone may well be in jeopardy. The Licences, initially granted in January of 2005, allow the company to carry out its operations in the region.

The licences were renwed in May of last year, however Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Mines notified Stellar Diamond that the renewal should not have been granted, and that the company no longer has mineral rights over the licences.

The company is frustrated and confused, as the Ministry has found Stellar’s Licence in the Tongo region to be in good standing. That licence was succesfully renewed in November of 2011. The Ministry also sent Stellar a letter dated December 31st, 2011, stating that the Tongo licence was in good standing.

Shares of the company have plummeted nearly 30% as of 11:43 GMT.

Executive Commentary

“Whilst this uncertainty is frustrating and unfortunate we strongly believe that our legal tenure over the Kono licences is intact and will be engaging with the Ministry of Mines to clarify and then satisfactorily resolve this issue. Over the past 12 months we have been conducting exploration and bulk sampling over the Lion kimberlite dyke project which is strategically located in the Kono diamond district. The Company has recently announced independent resource estimates from our key projects of Droujba and Tongo where we have established an initial resource base of 2.5 million carats and 0.66 million carats respectively.” – Stellar Diamond Chief Executive Karl Smithson

Company Spotlight

Stellar Diamond is a diamond mining and exploration company holding licences in Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Source
Stellar Diamond News Release

References
↑ Proactive Investors UK
↑ Company Overview

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