(Cape Town, July 24, 2007) – Diamond Fields International Ltd. (DFI:TSX) (“DFI” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the successful conclusion of a Joint Venture Agreement (the “Joint Venture”) with Lion Fields Limited (“Lion Fields”) for mineral exploration in a highly prospective area in western Zambia.
Lion Fields has been granted the exclusive right to conduct exploration work for copper, gold, silver, zinc, lead and germanium over a 444 square kilometer property (the “Property”) in the Solwezi district of western Zambia. DFI believes that the Property has the potential to host extensions to the world-class Kipushi ore-body, located immediately adjacent to the Property, within the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kipushi is one of the highest grade zinc mines in the world.
Subject to obtaining the acceptance of the Toronto Stock Exchange, Lion Fields and DFI have agreed to form a Joint Venture on an 80% (DFI) to 20% (Lion Fields) basis, for the exploration, valuation and, if justified, the development and mining of any mineral resources discovered on the Property, upon the terms and conditions set out in the Joint Venture agreement.
Pursuant to the Joint Venture agreement, DFI will reimburse Lion Fields US$200,000 against a portion of Lion Fields’ total project costs incurred to date, following which the Joint Venture will be deemed to be formed between the parties.
DFI will be appointed operator of the Joint Venture with overall management responsibility for the prospecting operations on the Property and, among other things, will be required to incur minimum exploration expenditures of US$200,000 over the existing term of the Property license (which is due to expire in December 2008) and US$200,000 during each subsequent renewal term of the license, if any, in order to maintain its interest in the Property.
As Lion Fields is controlled by Mr. Jean-Raymond Boulle, the largest shareholder of the Company and an insider of the Company, the Joint Venture constitutes a “related party transaction” under Rule 61-501 of the Ontario Securities Commission (the “Rule”) and is subject to acceptance by the Toronto Stock Exchange. The directors of the Company, all of whom are independent of Lion Fields and Mr. Boulle, have approved the transaction and have determined that the transaction is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of the Rule on the basis that neither the fair market value of the subject matter of nor the consideration for the transaction is greater than 25% of DFI’s market capitalization of approximately $32.4 million.
Roger Daniel, DFI’s President and CEO, commented: “We believe this is a highly prospective exploration project with good potential to host significant extensions of the world class Kipushi mine. Diamond Fields has recruited a geologist for the project and a work program has now commenced.”
Roger J. Daniel, B.Sc. (Hons) Geology, London, Pr.Sci.Nat., the Company’s President and CEO, is a Fellow of the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (SAIMM) and 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 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.