Pan African updates Madagascar

Pan African Mining Corp. reports that results have now been received for detailed follow-up sampling of certain minor tributaries of the Fandiavo River in the Southeast of Madagascar within the Company’s license area B3 near the port of Manakara. A tight clustering of samples with high ilmenite counts was outlined in a minor ephemeral tributary in the upper reaches of the drainage basin. These samples include ilmenites with perovskite reaction rims, which are typically indicative of minimal transport from a primary kimberlite source. The restricted distribution of the positive samples coupled with the ilmenite surface textures strongly suggest a local point source in the form of a proximal kimberlite pipe.

The initial focus of the Company’s diamond program in Madagascar remains its B3 license area. The first alluvial diamonds from Madagascar were reported to have been recovered by artisanal gold miners from the Sandranampano River. These were reputedly well-formed crystals of good quality. However, despite subsequent systematic sampling of this river, no primary kimberlite source of these stones has yet been located.

Initial reconnaissance and follow-up sampling by the Company of its B3 license area recovered a small number of encouraging samples in the Fandiavo River, about 5 km west of the Sandranampano River. Hence the present round of follow-up sampling was carried out with a view toward further evaluating the potential of this area and in particular several of the tributaries in the upper reaches of the drainage basin.

The geometry of the drainage network in the B3 area indicates that there have been numerous river “piracy” events which have modified the headwaters of the streams over a long period of time. This process typically involves headwater erosion of one river that captures the course of a second drainage, thus diverting or pirating the latter’s headwaters. In this instance, there are now strong indications that the modern headwaters of the Fandiavo were originally linked to the very linear, structurally controlled Sandranampano River. The potential kimberlite pipe in the upper Fandiavo basin indicated by the latest round of local sampling results thus represents a likely source of the four Stapoundzi diamonds reportedly found in 1907 in the area.

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