Americas Diamond Corp. reported starting up essential site prep work today at their Natal I and II concessions, well ahead of the final bulk sampling program aimed at running some 100k tonnes of good material through the diamond recovery plant.
Looking at the extant sampling and recovery rates from the project thus far, ADMC is calculating double or even quadruple (10k to 20k carats total) the generally accepted as required return needed to successfully characterize the material’s diamond population. With moisture receding from what was described by the company as a very heavy rain season (over 300 inches in just nine months or so), the project is springing to life again now with earth movers hammering out roadway refurbishments and crews doing upkeep on several key onsite bridges, bringing overall logistical accessibility up to where it needs to be for the coming work.
The company’s wholly-owned Venezuelan subsidiary, Compania Minera Adamantine C.A., holds these two sizeable (15.7k acres combined) diamond concessions, which have seen over $13M total investment to date. Though limited to small-scale, semi-mechanized, and artisan mining, the host Guaniamo Diamond Province’s rich kimberlite has pumped out well over 15M carats since its discovery in 1969 (estimates are nearly double that official figure, including some 60-carat whoppers). ADMC acreage is in the heart of the prolific region and analysts expect big things out of Natal I and II.
CEO of ADMC, Daniel Martinez, spoke of the crucial nature of this preparatory work for ensuring that the $1M to $2M (plus another $250k or so for year one CAPEX) budgeted for the sampling program was well spent. Given the potential of the down-dip extensions in the Belmudez diamondiferous zone, the probing of which is an overarching goal for the program, it is essential to make sure the logistics are tight before kicking off. In addition to roads and bridges on the site’s interior, ADMC is hard at work shoring up external access, like the Chalana ferry terminal road that links to the camp and plant.
New roadways are being put in to service the Belmudez zone targets in anticipation of their evolution and all the necessary machines, vehicles, and equipment are getting the once-over. Preemptive repairs and routine maintenance like this will ensure that critical uptime is not lost during the sampling program, as such downtime impairs cost efficiency and could jeopardize the program’s true potential. ADMC is moving to get spare parts for the plant as well, in shrewd anticipation of the inevitable, ordering up the necessary screens, spigots, and pumps for the DMS 3-Stage unit.
Another thing they are looking to grab early on in the work season here is dedicated automotive spares to support the earthmovers tasked with doing the long extension inclines, as this job is particularly wear-and-tear intensive. This is the kind of thing you want to see as an investor, smart site prep in anticipation of the digging season. You can tell straight away that ADMC is serious about knocking it out of the park with their main bulk diamond sampling program, just by the way they are hitting the ground running here.
With permits in hand to acquire and stockpile thousands of gallons of low-cost petrol/diesel for the dig, ADMC is itching to get at those down-dip extensions and start running material.
For more information on Americas Diamond, visit www.AmericasDiamondCorp.com
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