Lonrho Africa announced on Friday that Nare Diamonds had discovered a very rare 235-carat diamond from its Schmidtsdrift diamond mine in South Africa. The large-sized gemstone is octahedron in shape and of very good quality said a third-party assessor, according to Lonrho.
“This is a substantial find as diamonds of this size are a very rare occurrence,” Nare’s CEO Charles Mostert said.
Lonrho Africa acquired a 17% stake in Nare on the April 11 of this year.
Lonrho Africa”s chief executive, David Lenigas, is to become non-executive chairperson of Nare.
“Lonrho Africa views the timing of the Nare investment as very fortuitous and the discovery of such a large gem diamond shows the potential for considerable upside on this investment,” said David Lenigas.
Schmidtsdrift diamond mine, which commenced production in March this year, is located some 80km north-west of Kimberley in the Northern Cape province and consists of 31Â 227ha of highly potential diamondiferous gravel deposits. Previous mining activities at Schmidtsdrift yielded 33Â 679 carats with an average stone size of 1,14 carats.
Nare’s second diamond operation, the Kamfersdam tailings operation, is expected to be commissioned by May 1 2006. — I-Net Bridge