Venus Metals Corporation Limited (ASX:VMC) Purchase Of Diamond Processing Plant And Appointment Of Specialists
Sydney, May 27, 2011 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Venus Metals Corporation Limited (
ASX:VMC) are pleased to announce the purchase of a containerised, modular diamond processing plant for its alluvial diamond project located at Smoke Creek, downstream of the nearby Argyle Diamond Mine in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The Directors refer to Venus' announcement of 11th November 2010 regarding Smoke Creek - "JORC INFERRED DIAMOND RESOURCE OF FIVE MILLION CARATS". The Inferred Resource is estimated at 17.9Mt at an average grade of 28CPHT for 5,000,000 carats using a cut-off of 10CPHT.
The 1979 discovery of alluvial diamonds in Smoke Creek led to the discovery of the worldclass Argyle diamond deposit. Prior to mining operations commencing at Argyle in 1985, Argyle Diamond Mines (ADM) mined parts of upper Smoke Creek. The Argyle mine was the largest diamond mine in the world, peaking at approximately 42.8m.carats in 1994. Argyle Diamonds operated an alluvial mine in upper Smoke Creek for many years, supplementing the hard rock production with the alluvial product which had a better quality distribution.
The Venus Smoke Creek Alluvial Diamond Project contains the same diamondiferous gravels to those already mined by Argyle at upper Smoke Creek.
Venus' Argyle Smoke Creek Alluvial Diamond Deposit potentially provides a new source of genuine, Kimberley Process compliant, issue-free Australian diamonds including the rare pinks.
The processing plant comprises 3 modules incorporating a Scrubbing & Screening module, a 10 tonne-per-hour Dense Medium Separation (DMS) module and a dual-X-Ray diamond recovery module. The plant, constructed in South Africa in 2008 for an alluvial diamond project which did not proceed, has been in storage since then.
The plant is currently in transit from South Africa and is scheduled to arrive in Fremantle early-June 2011. The plant will then be relocated to the Smoke Creek camp in mid-June.
The bulk sampling program is on schedule to commence at the end of June 2011.
Venus Metals management continues to have direct personal involvement in all projects including the Smoke Creek diamond project but it is relevant to note the engagement of the following specialists:
Wolf Marx - Consultant Diamond Geologist - over 30yrs experience as a prominent diamond geologist in exploration & mining. He was involved in the discovery & evaluation of Bow River diamond deposit in WA Kimberley region. Wolf has held many senior management positions in his long career including DeBeers, Freeeport and Tawana Resources.
Grant Boxer - Consultant Diamond Geologist - over 30yrs experience in exploration and mining geology in Australia, Brazil, China, Ireland and Africa. Rio Tinto Exploration 1978 to 1997 incl.10yrs on development of Argyle and Ellendale mines and Argyle alluvials.
Dr Tony Mason - over 30yrs experience in designing and commissioning diamond concentration and recovery plants in Africa, Asia, Australia and North & South America. Dr Mason is the principal consultant of Minerals Processors (WA).
Venus Smoke Creek Diamond Plant
Venus geologists have selected over 40 primary target pits for excavation during the 2011 dry-season in the Kimberley region. The gravels excavated will be hauled to a set-down area before being presented to the process plant. Each module in the plant produces potentially diamond-bearing material or waste material not containing diamond.
Module 1 cleans the gravels and separates the very large or very small sizes not required.
Material in the required size range is passed to Module 2 for further processing. Waste material is returned to the pits.
Module 2 is the DMS which utilises a proven heavy medium process to achieve controlled densimetric separation based on the differing densities of diamond and its accompanying gravels. Again, material selected in this process is passed to Module 3 for further processing. Waste is pumped to a drying pond pending return to the pits.
Module 3 contains two X-Ray sorters developed and produced in South Africa by Flow Sort Pty Ltd. Their operation is based on the X-ray induced luminescence of diamonds which enables the machine to separate diamond from non-diamond rapidly. Module 3 operates within a high-security locked container.
For the complete Venus announcement including diagrams, please refer to the following link:
http://www.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/543265.pdf
About Venus Metals Corporation Limited
Venus Metals Corporation Limited (ASX:VMC) is a West Australian based Company with a focus on gold, base metals, vanadium and lithium exploration projects. The Company aims to increase shareholder value through targeted exploration success on its projects.
The Company's major gold project is the Youanmi Gold Mine, located 500km north-east of Perth. The Youanmi Gold Mine is now jointly owned by Venus Metals (30%) and Rox Resources Limited (70%); Indicated and Inferred Resource of the mine is in excess of 3 million ounces of gold.
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