Sierra Leone Diamond says Tonkolili project has major iron ore potential UPDATE

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Sierra Leone Diamond Co Ltd said data has now been processed from a survey carried out in 2004 at its Tonkolili Iron Ore Project indicating it may contain in excess of 2 billion tonnes of contained iron ore with a grading of 68-70 pct.

The mineral exploration company said it has now scheduled a work programme of up to 200,000 metres of drilling to define the extent of the Tonkolili mineralisation under the project, which is about 150 kilometres from the Pepel deep water port. This port is serviced well with good infrastructure for shipping.

Sierra Leone will take up metallurgical testwork, flowsheet development and preliminary engineering to complete a scoping study by the second quarter of 2008, it added.

Alongside the news from the Tonkolili project, the AIM-listed company said it is starting a drilling campaign to define the extent of iron mineralisation along with initial metallurgical testwork, flowsheet development and preliminary engineering at its Marampa project, which is nearby.

Interpretation of aeromagnetic and ground gravity surveys has defined 20 km of prospective strike extending out from the historical Marampa mine, the company said.

The group also announced today that it has found a kimberlite in the south west of Sierra Leone, West Africa in the Lake Popei project area after 800 metres of core drilling.

In its base metals and gold exploration activities, the company said it has identified potential drilling in 14 high priority, 11 priority targets and 40 carbonatite targets.

And in its uranium exploration, the company's high priority target, the Lovetta anomaly which comprises an area of 160 square km, has been soil sampled and surveyed with results showing a 7 km by 1 km area greater than 220 counts per minute with a peak of 1,200 counts per minute.

Sierra Leone said it is very pleased with the initial results from its exploration projects and that it is the beginning of its strategy to be a diversified minerals producer.

Sierra Leone Diamond says Tonkolili project has major iron ore potential UPDATE - Forbes.com