RAPAPORT… Target Resources Plc confirmed that after having acquired Pride Diamonds LLP in February now Pride’s dredging equipment is operational at Target’s lease areas. The first week’s extraction and processing of gravels from the Bafi river (Sierra Leone) has been completed Target reported on May 3, 2007.
The directors are encouraged by diamond production of 58 carats made up of 102 stones, the largest stones being of 7.5ct., 6.6ct., and 3.10ct.
Target is the first diamond miner in Sierra Leone with full river dredging capability, thereby giving it the ability to both add to its land-based mining and to work through the rainy season. Target plans to offer a land-based update on production later in the month.
Through Pride Diamonds, Target recently formed a retail partnership with Brilliant Earth, which had been exclusively offering diamonds from Canada. Brilliant Earth wrote of the new partnership, “By sourcing fair trade diamonds from Sierra Leone through responsible fair trade diamond organizations like Pride Diamonds, we hope to build demand for widespread industry change. One community at a time, fair trade diamond-producing cooperatives can create a better future for the diggers in West Africa.”
“We have begun to purchase diamonds from Sierra Leone that are consistent with fair trade practices and hope to be able to expand this practice as more responsibly produced diamonds become available,” the online San Francisco-based Brilliant Earth wrote.