Diamcor Mining Inc. has announced preliminary updates for the Upper Zone and Basal Zone gravels based on the results of the initial drilling efforts which have been completed as part of the recommended drilling programme underway at the Company's Krone-Endora at Venetia Project.
The initial drilling efforts were completed on 469 targets, as previously announced, and were aimed at better defining the location, extent and thicknesses of the Upper Zone and Basal Zone gravel units both within the areas initially explored by De Beers and within additional surrounding areas of the Project.
Data collected from the drilling programme was also used to assist in the determination of areas for the Company's planned move to bulk sampling which is the next phase of the recommended work programme. The recommended bulk sampling efforts are designed to test these gravel materials in the various areas for the presence of diamonds and to determine the grade of those materials.
The results of the initial drilling efforts completed were subsequently modeled by the Independent Qualified Person using Datamine modeling software to estimate new tonnage values for the Upper Zone and Basal Zone gravels, and to provide an update on the gravel tonnage estimates which were originally reported in the initial NI 43-101 Technical Report filed by the Company on July 30, 2009. The original gravel tonnage estimates in that Technical Report were based solely on areas of the Project comprised of approximately 307 hectares on which De Beers had previously performed initial exploration work. As part of the recommended drilling programme undertaken, the Company performed tighter spacing in-fill drilling on the previously explored areas to better define the locations and depths of the gravel material in those areas. The Company also completed additional drilling on targets in the areas immediately surrounding these previously explored areas in order to determine the potential extension of the gravel material into these surrounding new areas. The combined efforts of all drilling to date now cover an area of approximately 540 hectares.
Data from the initial drilling efforts completed by the Company was able to confirm the DeBeers' tonnage estimate for the Upper Zone gravels, the total of which increased by a modest 0.7% from the 2009 estimate, mainly due to a new, and more accurate lower average density calculation. The tonnage estimate for the Basal Zone gravels, however, increased by a substantial 97.5% from the 2009 estimate, due to the extension of the Basal Zone area to the east, north and west of the original zone defined by the initial exploration work previously completed by De Beers.