Appointment of New Contract Miner at Oena Diamond Mine, Appointment of CEO of African Star Minerals (Pty) Ltd. and Oena Diamond Sales
April 19 2022 - 12:03PM
Southstone Minerals Limited (“Southstone” or the
“Company”) (TSX.V – SML) is pleased to announce that
African Star Minerals (Pty) Ltd. (“
ASM”), the
Company’s 43% owned subsidiary, has entered into a Contract Mining
and Diamond Recovery Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Oryx Mining
(Pty) Ltd (“Oryx”) at Oena Diamond Mine (“Oena”), South Africa.
Oryx, at its own cost and expense, will provide and maintain all
the Plant and Equipment as required to perform the Mining Services.
The diamonds produced by Oryx will be sold via a
designated Tender Facility in South Africa and 80% of the gross
income of net diamond sales, less commission, will be paid to Oryx
for the duration of the 36-month Agreement. For any individual
stones recovered with a gross selling price, less commission, of
greater that ZAR 10,000,000 Oryx will be paid 70% of the gross
income.
Oryx specialize in the processing of alluvial
diamond deposits in South Africa and the operation is currently
targeting to operate 24 hours a day, 6 days a week with total
headfeed capacity of 200 tonnes per hour. Equipment and road
building is ongoing, and it is expected production will commence in
May 2022. Further details of the scale of operation, diamond
recovery system and mining location will be provided in a coming
update. Oena consists of an 8,800-hectare mining right located
along the Orange River in a well-established alluvial
diamond-mining province that produces high quality and large sized
diamonds.
ASM CEO AppointmentNadim Makki,
who was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of ASM on 1 November
2021 provides strategic leadership and vision for ASM and will be
the liaison with Oryx. Mr. Makki’s compensation is 5% of the net
proceeds received by ASM, being gross diamond sales less sales
commissions and contractor’s share less ZAR6,000,000 per annum
cumulative and calculated pro rata per financial year.
Oena Diamond Mine, Republic of South
AfricaDiamond Sales Report from 1 February to 19
April 2022
Production at the Oena Diamond Mine, by Bluedust
7 Propriety Limited (“Bluedust”), for the period 1 February and
ending 19 April 2022 continued on site with processing of run of
mine (“ROM”) material. The operation was discontinued in April with
the contractor completing rehabilitation work and ongoing equipment
demobilization. The Bluedust contract with will be formally
terminated following completion of demobilization of their
equipment and an audit of any outstanding reclamation. Total
diamond sales from 1 February to 19 April 2022, as per the terms of
the Bluedust contract, are summarized in the following table and no
unsold diamonds remain in inventory.
Period |
Total CaratsSold |
Total Number ofDiamonds |
Average USD / carat |
1 February to 19 April 2022 |
89.94 |
55 |
1,242 |
Since the acquisition of ASM by the Company, the
Oena Diamond Mine has produced the following:
|
Total CaratsSold |
Total Number ofDiamonds |
Average DiamondSize (carats) |
Average USD / carat |
Approx. Total Sales(USD) |
July 2015 to April 2022 |
7,967 |
3,958 |
2.01 |
1,612 |
$12,850,000 |
The technical disclosure in this news release
has been approved by Terry L. Tucker, P.Geo., Executive Chairman of
the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by National
Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
SOUTHSTONE MINERALS LIMITEDTerry L. Tucker,
P.Geo.Executive Chairman
info@southstoneminerals.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking
StatementCertain information set forth in this news
release contains “forward-looking statements” and “forward-looking
information” under applicable securities laws. Except for
statements of historical fact, certain information contained herein
constitutes forward-looking statements, which include management’s
assessment of future plans and operations and are based on current
internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and
beliefs, which may prove to be incorrect. Some of the
forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as
“forecasts”, estimates”, “expects” “anticipates”, “believes”,
“projects”, “plans”, “outlook”, “capacity” and similar expressions.
These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue
reliance should not be placed on them.
Such forward-looking statements necessarily
involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause
the Company’s actual performance and financial results in future
periods to differ materially from any projections of future
performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to statements with respect to the estimation of mineral
resources; the realization of mineral resource estimates;
anticipated future production, capital and operating costs; cash
flows and mine life; potential size of a mineralized zone;
potential expansion of mineralization; potential types of mining
operations; permitting timelines; government regulation of
exploration and mining operations; risks that the presence of
diamond deposits mentioned nearby the Company’s property are not
indicative of the diamond mineralization on the Company’s property,
the supply and demand for, deliveries of and the level and
volatility of prices of rough diamonds, risks that the actual
revenues will be less than projected; risks that the target
production for the existing mining contracts will be less than
projected or expected; risks that production will not commence as
projected due to delay or inability to receive governmental
approval of the Company’s acquisition or the timely completion of
an NI43-101 report; technical problems; inability of management to
secure sales or third party purchase contracts; currency and
interest rate fluctuations; COVID-19; foreign exchange fluctuations
and foreign operations; various events which could disrupt
operations, including labor stoppages and severe weather
conditions; and management’s ability to anticipate and manage the
foregoing factors and risks.
The forward-looking statements and information
contained in this news release are based on certain assumptions
regarding, among other things, future prices for coal and diamonds;
future currency and exchange rates; the Company’s ability to
generate sufficient cash flow from operations and access capital
markets to meet its future obligations; coal consumption levels;
and the Company’s ability to retain qualified staff and equipment
in a cost-efficient manner to meet its demand. There can be no
assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be
accurate, as actual results and future events could differ
materially from those anticipated in such statements. The reader is
cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements. The Company does not undertake to update any of the
forward-looking statements contained in this news release unless
required by law. The statements as to the Company’s capacity to
achieve revenue are no assurance that it will achieve these levels
of revenue.
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