Sydney, Oct 27, 2005 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Petra Diamonds Limited (ASX: PDL)('Petra' or 'the Company'), the AIM-quoted and ASX-listed diamond mining group, announces the identification of a new major magnetic anomaly (148 hectares interpreted surface area) at the Alto Cuilo project in north eastern Angola and a substantial increase in the number of other known magnetic anomalies (from 69 to 219).
In July this year a low level Midas helicopter survey was undertaken and Petraa advised that further news would follow when the data from the survey had been fully processed. The processing and analysis of the data acquired from the Midas survey is now complete and has resulted in the identification of a major new anomaly (anomaly 70) which is estimated from the magnetic data acquired from the Midas survey to be approximately 148 hectares in size and is located approximately 4 kilometres from the kimberlitic cluster previously announced by the Company.
Processing of the Midas survey data has also added significantly to the number of other magnetic anomalies previously identified at Alto Cuilo, with the original 69 anomalies identified in the previous fixed wing survey now increasing substantially to 219 from the current Midas survey.
A magnetic image of these anomalies can be viewed at www.petradiamonds.com
Work on the alluvial programme continues with a further three bulk samples having been processed. Approximately 2,403 tonnes were treated from these three bulk samples to recover 237 diamonds totaling 60.30 carats (bottom screen size of 2mm). The largest stones were 1.87, 1.57 and 1.27 carats. The diamonds recovered continue to reflect the high gem quality recovered in previous samples.
Adonis Pouroulis, Petra's Chairman, commented, 'We are delighted to have discovered a new major magnetic anomaly at Alto Cuilo, again larger in footprint than the entire 109 hectare (about 115 million tonne) deposit delineated to date. Work continues apace at Alto Cuilo, where the combined technical firepower of Petra and BHP Billiton has successfully uncovered a stream of new kimberlite anomalies this year. Alto Cuilo is a project offering exceptional diamond prospectivity, as also demonstrated by the results of the alluvial bulk sampling, and we will continue to fast track our development programme.'
Notes to Editors:
In December 2004 Petra implemented a formal Joint Venture Agreement with BHP Billiton World Exploration Inc ('BHP Billiton') regarding the Alto Cuilo diamond
project in north eastern Angola. Under the terms of the Joint Venture Agreement, BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) can, by investing up to US$60 million in Petra Diamonds Alto Cuilo Limited, the JV vehicle ('Vehicle') which holds Petra's share in Alto Cuilo, acquire a share of up to 75% of the Vehicle.
Petra continues to yield exploration success at Alto Cuilo, with the discovery of several major kimberlitic anomalies in 2005. A low-level Midas helicopter survey, carried out in July and August this year, identified new anomalies of 26, 60 and 125 hectares in surface area, these discoveries being in addition to the existing 109 hectares (115 million tonne) deposit identified by Petra in 2004. These four anomalies give an approximate total area of 320 hectares.
Contact
Parkgreen Communications, London
Justine Howarth / Cathy Malins
Tel +44 20 7493 3713
Petra Diamonds, Perth
John Baillie
Tel +61 8 9381 8888
Field PR, Adelaide
Kevin Skinner
Tel +61 8 8234 9555
Mobile +61 414 822 631
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