Cape Town, October 1, 2007: Following its announcement on May 9, 2007 that Diamond Fields International Ltd. (DFI:TSX) (“DFI” or the “Company”) has exercised its option to acquire 100% of the exploration rights to the Valozoro nickel deposit DFI is pleased to provide an update on work progress on this deposit.
The Valozoro nickel deposit is located 60 kilometres north of the town of Fianarantsoa in south central Madagascar approximately 300 km south of the capital city Antananarivo. Weathering and alteration of a harzburgite protolith has produced a type A nickel-laterite deposit up to 17 metres thick. The deposit was first systematically sampled on a 20 metre by 20 metre grid in the late 1950’s by BRGM, who quoted an estimated resource of 3.7 million tons of ore grading 1.75% nickel containing 65,000 tonnes of contained nickel metal. This is a historical resource estimate and a Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves under National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”) as defined in sections 1.2 and 1.3, and the company is not treating it as such.
The Company is currently undertaking a new extensive channel sampling program of over 400 of the existing prospecting pits with samples being taken at half metre intervals to determine the actual contained value of the ore body in terms of both nickel and secondary products such as cobalt. In excess of 8,000 channel samples are expected to be generated from this program. The program design is expected to enable the estimation of a measured resource in terms of NI 43-101, and allow the construction and delineation of an ore body model to produce a mine development plan. The sampling work is expected to be completed by the beginning of October 2007, when the samples are scheduled to be shipped to South Africa for analysis. Final analytical and modeling results are projected to be completed by February 2008. Field observations indicate that the majority of the existing pits do not reach the underlying regolith, but terminate in a saprolitic boulder horizon, consistent with findings from a ground penetrating radar study carried out in 2005. By implication the measured resource may be larger than previously estimated.
Roger Daniel, DFI’s President and CEO commented: “With continued strength in base metal prices we are very excited about the prospects for this property in Madagascar. We believe that this deposit is Madagascar’s second major source of nickel after the Ambatovy Nickel project where a consortium comprising the Sherrit International Corporation, the Korea Resource Corporation and the Sumitomo Corporation have recently announced that they intend spending US$3.3 billion to develop its project.”
Roger J. Daniel, B.Sc. (Hons) Geology, London, Pr.Sci.Nat., the Company’s President and CEO, who is a Fellow of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM), is also a registered geological scientist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP), and is thus a Qualified Person in terms of National Instrument 43-101, has compiled and reviewed the scientific and technical information contained in this News Release.
DIAMOND FIELDS INTERNATIONAL LTD.
“Roger J. Daniel”
Roger J. Daniel, President and CEO For further information, contact Roger Daniel at +27 21 425 1990 Website: www.diamondfields.com
Forward-Looking Statements:
Statements in this release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors identified in Diamond Fields’ periodic filings with Canadian Securities Regulators. Such forward-looking information represents management’s best judgment based on information currently available. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Diamond Fields does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.