Sierra Leone yields early results for Cream Minerals

Cream Minerals (CMA-V, CRMXF-O) has netted 46 diamonds in the first four days of operations on its Sewa River exploration licence in Sierra Leone.

The diamonds were recovered from the upstream end of the roughly 4-km river section of the property, and range in size from 0.08 carat to 2.92 carats.

The stones weigh a total of about 21.5 carats and more than 90% of them are considered to be of gem quality, the company said.

Cream Minerals recently received its mining licence and permits to move ahead with its Sewa River bulk-sampling program and plans to start immediately.

The company has already assembled and tested its heavy mineral processing plant, which includes a gold recovery circuit.

The Sewa River is about 500 metres wide with large islands downstream of several of the diabase dykes that cross the river at right angles.

Due to very low water levels, nine of the dykes are exposed in sandbars in the downstream portion of the stretch of river covered by the mining licence.

The dykes act as large natural grooves across the riverbed, which can trap heavy minerals such as diamonds and gold.

The Sewa River itself is one of this West African nation’s major rivers.

In the dry season the river is fairly shallow to depths of about 2-4 metres. During the rainy season the low terraces surrounding the river are normally flooded.

The licence is located in the lower portion of the Sewa River, about 10 km above the point where the river enters the coastal plane.

The property can be accessed by road from the town of Bo, the main commercial centre in southwestern Sierra Leone, about 230 km, or five hours by car from Freetown.

Cream Minerals, which owns 70% of the project, is focusing on evaluating alternative mining methods at Sewa River and getting a better sense of its resource potential.

In order to export the stones, Cream Minerals must submit them to the Government of Sierra Leone Gold and Diamond Office, which will determine the amount of royalties.

That evaluation process yields an estimate of the total value of the diamonds. The gems are also submitted to the Kimberley process for certificates of origin.

Cream Minerals notes that apart from diamonds, exploration of the Sewa River contains lilac-coloured garnets, ilmenite and iron oxide gravel fragments, with similar density to the target diamonds, and fine-grained flake gold.