Diamond Fields International Ltd. (DFI) announced that it is restarting offshore marine operations on its Namibian concessions in a joint venture with International Mining and Dredging South Africa (Pty.) Limited SPV1 (IMD), a subsidiary of International Mining and Dredging Holdings, Limited (IMDH) and an associate company of Nutam Pty Ltd. of Namibia.

“Pursuant to an agreement between DFI's Namibian subsidiary Diamond Fields (Namibia) (Pty) Limited (DFN) and IMD, DFN and IMD have begun a four-stage development programme of DFN's mining concessions ML-138, ML-139 and ML-111,” DFI announced.  “The programme will ascertain the grade and size of diamond deposits, the available quality and diamond carat sizes, the nature of the overburden, the soils and the hard layer, and the economic and technical considerations for undertaking mining activities in the concession areas.”

At the first stage,  a survey vessel will  complete geophysical surveys in the concession areas. During the second stage  a sampling vessel will complete reconnaissance sampling of targets identified by the geophysical study. At the third stage  a sampling vessel will complete regional/bulk sampling and make a preliminary resources assessment and prepare a mining plan. “Should results from the first three stages warrant it, the parties will enter into the fourth stage, consisting of finalising a mining plan and deploying a mining vessel to carry out mining,” the Company explained.

“The joint venture will utilise state-of-the-art sub-sea crawler systems that can excavate up to 17 metres of substrate, making these previously unavailable targets accessible,” the Company added.

IMD will bear all the costs of the programme up to the completion of the third stage, the Company stated. “In exchange, it will receive representation on DFN's Board and earn an increasing percentage of ownership interest in DFN as it successfully completes each stage,” the Company added.

The Namibian Government has approved joint operations between DFN and IMD on June 3, 2015 and Stage 1 operations commenced with immediate effect.

Sybrand van der Spuy, DFI's CEO said, "These are exciting times for DFI. Getting back onto the water is a major milestone which the Company has worked towards for years. We have targeted a number of resource areas, with special interest in the palaeo-channel systems, that we intend to work up in the coming months with the intent of mining should results warrant."