Stellar Diamonds Regulatory News (STEL)

5 Jan 2007 08:02

West African Diamonds PLC05 January 2007 AIM Listing West African Diamonds plc (WAD), a diamond mining and exploration company whichhas acquired assets in Sierra Leone and Guinea from African Diamonds plc, andrecently acquired additional licences in Guinea, is very pleased to announce itsadmission to the AIM Market. Placing Price per Ordinary Share 20pNumber of Ordinary Shares in issue on Admission 33,569,985Gross proceeds of the Placing £2.7 millionMarket capitalisation at the Placing Price £6.7 million (Approx)LSE stock ticker WAD Investment Case • Exciting and growing portfolio of assets: > Near term production provides positive cashflow. > High value exploration provides upside potential. > New exploration licences recently acquired in Guinea. > Intended future acquisitions to stimulate further growth. • Experienced management team with strong industry and regional expertise: > Proven success with African Diamonds. • Working with communities to provide local social and economic benefit. West Africa - produces some of the highest valued diamonds worldwide • Sierra Leone: > Official diamond exports have risen from $10m in 2000 to $140m in 2005. > Estimated strong growth in GDP > International companies involved in country. • Guinea: > Mining is Guinea's key industry and main source of foreign exchange. > Virtually unexplored with similar geology to Sierra Leone. > Estimated economic growth since 2005. > 1995 Mining code established to attract foreign investment. > International companies involved in country. Assets: Development; Advanced Exploration & Exploration • Plant 11 Deposit (60% interest by WAD), Sierra Leone: Development Project: > Diamond and gold prospect: estimated 4-7 mt tailings. > 150 tph plant ordered. Commissioning Q2 2007. > Estimated revenue from gold alone will cover OPEX & CAPEX. • Kimberlite Pipe 3 and Dykes, Koidu, Sierra Leone: Development Project: > Pipe 3 trial mined in 2005. > >14 km of dykes mapped. > Fast track development 2007 - shaft & tunnel development. • Bomboko Alluvial Deposit, Guinea: Development Project: > Indicated grades of up to 0.12 cts/m2 > Five adjacent licences acquired with potential for up to 780,000 carats. > Processing equipment acquired, commissioning 2007. • Seria, Guinea. Advanced Exploration: Advanced Exploration Project: > Adjacent to Bomboko. > Extend the diamondiferous gravels identified in Bomboko. > Intention to utilise the existing DMS plant. • Fangamadou, Guinea: Exploration Project: > Previous exploration confirmed possibility for alluvial diamonds and hard rock gold. • Epl 11, Sierra Leone: Exploration Project: > Large licence with potential for hard rock and alluvial diamonds. For a map detailing precise locations and details of these projects includingthe full AIM admission document, please refer to WAD's website:www.westafdiamonds.com James Campbell, Executive Deputy Chairman added: "We are looking to springboard from the success of African Diamonds, with adiverse West African portfolio that will give us positive cashflow in 2007. Weare an unusual AIM company - a mining company with genuine near term productionand exploitable exploration upside. With solid and expanding cash flow provided by both Sierra Leone and Guineabased operations, we will be in an excellent position to move forward with ourvalue enhancing exploration operations" John Teeling, Chairman of WAD commented: "Our immediate focus is to bring into production in 2007 our mines in SierraLeone and Guinea. Using this base of production and revenue, we will activelyexplore our ground around Koidu in Sierra Leona and Bomboko in Guinea. Themanagement team has excellent operational and exploration experience which willbring our existing projects on-stream and will enable an expansion in ourportfolio. The quality and potential in WAD is recognised by our institutionalshareholders. WAD has attracted a number of blue chip institutional investors.We are committed to moving forward. As we have shown with the latest acquisitionin Guinea, we are constantly on the look out for new ventures in the region thatmatch our skill set and experience." James Campbell, Deputy Chairman, has approved the contents of this release. Enquiries: West African Diamonds plcJohn Teeling, Chairman + 353 1 833 2833James Campbell, Deputy Chairman +27 83 457 3724 Corporate Synergy PlcIan Rice +44 (0) 117 933 0020 College HillPaddy Blewer +44 (0) 20 7457 2020Nick Elwes +44 (0) 20 7457 2020 Management team: John Teeling (aged 60) Non-Executive Chairman John Teeling has been involved in resource projects for 30 years. John is thefounder and chairman of Pan Andean Resources PLC, Petrel Resources PLC, AfricanDiamonds PLC and Persian Gold PLC. He is also a former director of KenmareResources Limited and Arcon Limited. John Teeling holds degrees in Economics andBusiness from University College Dublin, an MBA from Wharton and a Doctorate inBusiness Administration from Harvard. He holds interests in a number ofindustrial ventures. James Campbell (aged 42) Executive Deputy Chairman James Campbell joined the Company from De Beers, where he was a general managerin the global mining and exploration group. He was responsible for resourcedelivery on all advanced exploration projects in Botswana (including AK6),execution of mine-based resource extension programmes, the De Beers diamondlaboratories and related capital expansion programmes. His distinguished 21-year career at De Beers started in the field as anexploration geologist, under the leadership of Alex van Zyl, currently theTechnical Director of the WAD. Alex and James went on to evaluate many of the DeBeers Group's resources, both green and brown fields. James worked-on and ledsmall-scale mine development before being hand-picked as personal assistant toNicky Oppenheimer when the latter assumed his chairmanship of De Beers in 1998.Shortly thereafter James was part of the leadership team which undertook afundamental strategic review of the business. James then went on to direct aglobal e-business programme for De Beers and headed the IT department atcorporate headquarters before returning to the global mining and explorationgroup. James holds a degree in Mining & Exploration Geology from the Royal School ofMines and an MBA with distinction from Durham University. He is a Fellow of theInstitute of Mining, Metallurgy & Materials, Chartered Engineer (UK), CharteredScientist (UK) and a Professional Natural Scientist (RSA). Alex van Zyl (aged 62) Executive Technical Director Alex van Zyl has over 40 years of experience in diamond exploration and mining.He worked as consulting geologist in senior management for Anglo American plcand De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited over the previous 15 years, during whichperiod he was directly responsible for diamond exploration, evaluation andmining projects throughout the world. He is best known for his personalinvolvement in the discovery and development of the Venetia diamond mine inSouth Africa. Under his leadership De Beers discovered and evaluated numerousnew kimberlites in Africa, Canada, Russia and various other parts of the world.He is also a director of African Diamonds PLC. James MacGregor (aged 69) Executive Director James MacGregor assembled the Licences and has overseen the Company'sexploration activities since they were acquired. He has over 30 years'experience in East and West Africa and has his own consultancy company,specialising in Africa whose clients included The Government of Guinea, RioTinto, The Government of Nigeria, European Development Fund, World Bank, privateequity groups and various private projects. He has over 10 years' directexperience working in Guinea and Sierra Leone in diamonds and resources and hasdeveloped excellent relationships in both countries at minister, ministry andcommercial levels. He is also a director of African Diamonds PLC. James Finn (aged 48) Non-Executive Director James Finn is the senior financial executive of a group of resource companiessince 1988. He holds a management degree and accounting qualifications. He isalso a director of Cooley Distillery PLC, Pan Andean Resources PLC, Persian GoldPLC and African Diamonds PLC. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange