Trustco company finds 391-carat diamond in Sierra Leone

A company in which Trustco Group Holdings holds a 19,5% interest has found a 391,45-carat diamond in Sierra Leone.

The diamond was discovered by Meya mining in the Kono district of Sierra Leone, where the company holds a 25-year exclusive diamond mining licence.

This is the second biggest find from the Meya River kimberlite domain. In November 2017, Meya mining recovered a 476-carat Type IIa diamond, known as the Meya Prosperity, during its initial bulk sampling programme.

Trustco deputy chief executive Quinton van Rooyen says six of the world’s largest diamonds have been discovered in the area surrounding Meya mining’s licenced zone.

“These include the 770-carat Woyie Diamond (1945), the 620-carat Sefadu Diamond (1970), the 969-carat Star of Sierra Leone (1973), the 709-carat Peace Diamond (2017), the 476-carat Meya Prosperity (2017) and now the 391-carat diamond.

Where the Meya Prosperity diamond was once viewed as a unique occurrence, it is now clear that this region possesses an exceptional geology. We are excited about the prospect of continued exploration and the opportunity to uncover even more significant diamonds in the future,” Van Rooyen noted.

Meya mining chief executive Jan Joubert said only four mines in the world infrequently recover these exceptional diamonds.

He said the fact that Meya has recovered two larger 500 carat diamonds suggests there is a high probability of finding more and possibly bigger diamonds once the mine reaches steady state production of 500 000 tonnes of kimberlite throughput per annum.

“Our priority now is to ensure that going forward we can unearth these high value stones intact. We will work closely with our engineering and processing partners to upgrade the plant, eliminate breakages and increase its capacity to recover exceptionally large diamonds,” Joubert noted.

Sierra Leone’s mines and mineral resources minister Julius Mattai said he hopes the discovery would show the world Sierra Leone’s mineral resource potential and a renewed interest in investing in that country’s mining sector.

“I am especially pleased with the transparent approach taken by the company to determine the market value of this stone and maximise the economic distribution to all key stakeholders,” he said.

The value of Trustco’s 19,5% stake in a venture might change in future because the current valuation method may not include the value of historical exceptional finds. If these finds are included in future valuations, the value of Trustco’s stake could increase.

– charmaine@namibian.com.na