Lipari Mining With CEO, Ken Johnson & Technical Director And Mining Engineer, Wes Roberts

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The Market Online speaks with Lipari Mining CEO, Ken Johnson & Technical Director And Mining Engineer, Wes Roberts as Lipari Mining Announces NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Tchiengo Diamond Project.

Transcript

00:00Welcome back to The Watchlist, I'm Lindsay Melchick.

00:08Lepari Mining has announced a robust 43-101 mineral resource estimate

00:12from its Chitango Diamond Project in Angola,

00:15with an indicated resource containing 14.6 million carats

00:19and an inferred resource of 8.5 million carats.

00:22Here to reflect light on all of that is CEO Ken Johnson

00:26and Wes Roberts, Technical Director and Mining Engineer.

00:31Welcome to you both.

00:32Good to see you, Lindsay. Thanks for having us back on.

00:35Now Ken, maybe you can start us off.

00:37This is a pretty vigorous estimate.

00:39So what does this resource estimate change for the company?

00:43Well, it really is just a confirmation of the work that was done in the past.

00:47Now this Twizzo Kimberlite was brought to feasibility by Alrosa back in 2013.

00:52So, you know, from between the time that they discovered the pipe back in 2005 and 2013,

00:58they spent $35.6 million drilling the deposit, you know,

01:02trial mining it to recover about 17,000 carats of diamonds.

01:06So we had all that information.

01:07And really what we had to do was confirm that work.

01:09So we carried out a drilling program last year,

01:12drilled about 3,700 meters of core, built our own geological model,

01:16and really confirm the resource that was previously reported by Alrosa back in 2013.

01:22That was the basis of their feasibility study.

01:24They were looking at putting this project into production back at that time.

01:27So now the next step for us is to treat a sample of Kimberlite,

01:33large sample, bulk sample, recover about 5,000 carats of diamonds

01:36that we can sell in the market to determine the diamond value.

01:40And with that information and the current market price for the diamonds,

01:43we can update the feasibility study and look to put the project into production

01:46within the next three years.

01:48Well, that is exciting news.

01:50And maybe, Wes, you can take this one home.

01:52What are the plans to move the project forward from here?

01:58Well, the main thing is to do this bulk sample.

02:01We'll take the 10,000 tons and recover diamonds.

02:06And then that will enable us to refresh the feasibility study and redo the economics.

02:11So then we'll really know what the value proposition is for the project.

02:16There was some historical bulk sample taken,

02:20but unfortunately we don't have those diamonds right now.

02:22But we do know the value at the time, but that's almost 10 years ago.

02:28So we need current prices really to refresh the feasibility study.

02:32So the previous work done by the Russians worked to a Russian standard,

02:36which is very extensive standards for mineral classification.

02:41But being a Canadian company, we need to put it Canadian standards in A43-101.

02:46And so fortunately, we kind of had already a good playbook where to drill,

02:53where to sample.

02:55So it was really a confirmation program with a qualified person to be a third party

03:01and verify those resources.

03:04Well, all of this sounds like there is a lot in the bucket for you.

03:07Congratulations with everything.

03:09And we will definitely be keeping our eyes and ears open for more updates.

03:12So come back soon and tell us.

03:14Thanks very much, Lindsay.

03:15Pleasure.

03:16Again, that was Ken Johnson, CEO and Wes Roberts, Technical Director of Lepari Mining.

03:22To read more about them, head over to their website at LepariMining.com.

03:26And don't forget to bookmark Stockhouse.com for all of your market news.

03:29I'm Lindsay Melchick.

03:30We'll see you soon.

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