De Beers has identified eight high-potential kimberlite targets as a result of the group’s airborne magnetic surveying work in Angola.
Group chief executive Al Cook told the Angola International Diamond Conference in Saurimo on Wednesday that De Beers completed all planned airborne electromagnetic surveys across both of its exploration concessions in Angola during the first half of 2024.
He said the group also began the airborne magnetic survey activity, discovery drilling and ground geophysics in its concession in Lumboma in the Lunda-Norte province.
Cook said De Beers has since then carried out airborne magnetic surveys in its other exploration concession, Muconda, located in Angola’s Lunda-Sul province, and plans to complete the airborne magnetic survey work in Lumboma in the coming months.
This critical activity, he said, which involves two survey aircraft supported by a helicopter, allows the acquisition of the data required to identify kimberlite targets for further assessment.
Discovery phase drilling activity, focused on assessing the potential of identified targets, is also fully operational and will continue on the targets with the highest geological potential.
“As we continue to put our Origins strategy into action, we are making good progress with our diamond exploration in Angola—the world’s most prospective region for new diamond deposits—and we are very pleased to have already identified eight new high-potential kimberlite targets in Angola as a result of our work,” Cook told a fully packed auditorium at the Saurimo diamond development hub.
“Alongside this, we are working hard with our partners in Government, both on enhancing the environment for long-term investors in the nation and on making sure we have all the tools in place to realise the socio-economic benefit of diamonds for the country.”
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief, Rough&Polished from Saurimo, Angola
