A cluster of four pipes, known as the Merlin project, has been taken up for bulk-sampling and trial production. Of them, three have yielded diamonds weighing more than 10 carats per stone.

The largest stone recovered todate is a 21.8 carat gemstone from the Sacramore pipe. Large stones were first seen in the Launfal pipe during the 1995-96 bulk-sampling phase.

Now large diamonds have been found in other two pipes as well. Thus all pipes processed, except Excalibur, have yielded diamonds weighing more than 10 carats each.

However, it appears at this early stage of development that the grades in these pipes are lower than those seen in the 1995-96 bulk-sampling. The effect of this on revenue is, however, expected to be offset by higher average sales values.

The accompanyingtable throws light on the diamond grade/value profile of these pipes:

The mine is owned 100 per cent by Ashton Mining Ltd a well-known global diamond player. Its chairman Paul Mc Clintock has observed that ``the Merlin project makes Aston a diamond-producer in its own right. It is encouraging to see high quality and high value diamonds coming out from there. Further development of this project is assured. The Merlin plant is operating at design capacity.

Of course, additional tonnages will have to be processed and the recovered diamonds sold, before any long-term conclusions can be drawn on the grade/value profile of Merlin pipes.

The scrubbing section of the processing plant was shut down in May to rectify variation problems. By the end of the quarter, the scrubber was back in production, with final modifications to be carried out in the third quarter of the year.

During this period, an opportunity was taken to reprocess and recover tailings stockpile to recover those diamonds not retained by theX-ray machine during the processing.

``The Merlinn project has turned out during the period from late February 1999 to end-June 1999, as many as 37,743 carats of diamonds from the mixture of bulk sampling and mining activities. In view of the shut down in May and lower grades, actual production in 1999 might be lower than the target of 200,000 carats. The economic impact of this, however, is expected to be minimal due to higher values expected.''

The stage one of the Merlin project now under implementation, involves a 2- 1/2 year trial mining exercise to accurately determine diamond grade, size distribution and diamond values. In addition, valuable geological and process information will also be recorded during the period.

A decision to proceed beyond the stage one will depend on the results obtained during the first 12-18 months of operation.