Stellar Diamonds issue Final Results

PUBLISHED: 24 Nov 2015 @ 19:10 | Comments (0) |

Final Results and Notice of AGM

Stellar Diamonds plc, the London listed (LSE:STEL) diamond development company focused on West Africa, has announced its final results for the period ended 30 June 2015.

Operational Highlights:

Baoulé Project, Guinea (75% owned):

· Trial mining yielded 6,400 carats at a +1.25mm run of mine grade of 13.5cpht
· Diamonds sale revenues of over US$700,000 (US$900,000 including other project inventory)
· High quality diamonds with values of up to US$6,800 per carat realised
· Target resource of 3.3 million carats based on historical drilling and current trial mining

Tongo Dyke-1 Project, Sierra Leone (100% owned):

· Preliminary Economic Assessment issued highlighting robust project economics
· NPV (10) of US$53 million and IRR of 31%
· Early cash flow expected to be generated and low capital requirement of US$24.2 million for surface and underground mining
· 18 year life of mine plan yielding target 1 million carats and US$386 million revenues
· Mining licence application and environmental impact assessment study to be submitted in near future

Financial Highlights:

· US$2.2 million raised during the year to complete the Tongo PEA and bring Baoulé into Trial Mining production
· Further US$2.4 million raised in November 2015 to progress the Tongo mine licence process and the Baoulé Trial Mining exercise
· Group administrative costs reduced to US$1.4 million from US$2.8 million with significant reductions made in both corporate and project level administration costs

Stellar Diamonds Chief Executive Officer Karl Smithson commented:

“Having delivered a very robust mine plan and financial model for Tongo the Board has decided to advance the project to the mining licence application stage. The independent PEA outlines an 18 year life of mine at a modest capital requirement of US$24.8 million which is expected to deliver robust revenues at a high margin. The calculated NPV at US$53 million is multiples of our current market capitalisation.

“At Baoulé we commenced trial mining of the 5 hectare kimberlite pipe. Processing via our 100tph DMS plant has so far yielded over 6,400 carats with maiden revenues of US$700,000 with the most recent diamonds sale in May achieving an average value of US$156 per carat. A number of diamonds have achieved high prices with a 10 carat fancy yellow stone fetching US$6,800 per carat which indicates the high value potential of the diamonds contained in the Baoulé pipe.

“We look forward with excitement to the year ahead which we believe will be transformational for Stellar. Securing the mining licence and necessary funding to get Tongo into mine development and production, and continued positive results from trial mine evaluation of Baoulé should hopefully deliver the returns that shareholders deserve.”

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