Pangea’s DRC plant commissioned

London, England — MININGREVIEW.COM — 13 March, 2008 – Pangea DiamondFields plc – a mid-tier diamond producer and exploration company with a portfolio of ten projects in the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa and Angola – reports that the bulk sampling plant delivered to its Longatshimo River project in the DRC late last year has been successfully constructed and commissioned.

A company statement released here late yesterday says the on-site operational team managed the construction and commissioning task despite the heavy seasonal rains. “Construction commenced with the 100-tph front-end and scrubber through to the 20 tph dense media separation (DMS) plant, and the first diamonds recovered from the plant were hand-sorted from concentrates generated from the DMS plant last month,” the statement explained. “The final recovery system from the concentrate handling and classification module to the automated ‘hands-free’ grease-belt unit was finally commissioned on Tuesday this week,” it added.

The Pangea statement said that during the commissioning process a total of 70 carats was recovered, including an exceptional quality 2.85-carat, octahedron-shaped diamond.

Commenting on the commissioning, chief executive officer Rob Still stated, “Our focus now will be to accelerate the bulk sampling activities, to firm up on resource grades, and to develop a valuation parcel of diamonds for sale. Getting to this stage is a credit to the dedication of the Pangea team which – after the demanding task of transporting the equipment to site – excelled themselves in getting the plant up and running in no time,” he concluded.

The 17-strong convoy of vehicles carrying some 600 tonnes of plant and equipment for bulk sampling activities arrived safely at the Longatshimo River camp site on 19 December 2007, after a 4 700 km overland journey from South Africa through Namibia and Angola.