Companies: KDR   

Karelian Diamond Resources has recovered 61 micro-diamonds and six macro-diamonds from its Seitapera kimberlite pipe in Finland.

An offshoot of chairman Professor Richard Conroy’s Conroy Diamonds & Gold, AIM-quoted Karelian says analysis by SGS Lakefield Research in Canada shows that 42 per cent of the Seitapera stones, the largest of which measures 0.63mm by 0.38 mm, are white and 52 per cent off-white, with the remainder grey. The micro-diamonds (each less than 0.5 mm) show 75 per cent preservation in 91 per cent of the stones recovered.

Karelian says the Seitapera pipe, at 600 by 200 metres over 15 acres, could hold an estimated 7.5 million tonnes of rock, making it the biggest pipe in gem-rich Finland. The company will now start drilling to obtain an idea of how many carats per tonne of rock the pipe contains and at what value per carat.

Dublin-based Karelian, which raised £1million at 6.5p a year ago, says it reckons this could cost £45 a metre over 2,000 metres and argues that this is half the cost of drilling an equivalent prospect in Canada. If the results are encouraging, Conroy and his colleagues will have to decide when to go for a feasibility study and whether to invite a partner or go it alone.

The company suggests that, if everything went well, it could have Seitapera in production, with a plant costing some £8 million, in as little as two to three years. Karelian is applying for two other licences in Finland’s Kuhmo area, where Seitapera is located, and is looking at Joensuu, another area to the south.

Conroy himself is the biggest holder of Karelian, which was floated at 5p three years ago. The shares reached 9.25p the following year before crumbling to 3.88p in January 2007. Now 6.75p, up 1.62p this morning and valuing the company at £4 million, they could now attract more interest.

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Karelian Diamond Resources	AIM	£3.03m	5.00p	-0.25p
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Other company articles:
Karelian hails Finnish ‘bonus’			29/10/2008
Karelian’s Finnish gem find			08/07/2008
Karelian raises £1m			19/07/2007
Exploration Insights by Robert Tyerman			02/07/2007
Funding rumours for gem hopeful			19/06/2007