West Perth, WA, Australia-Bonaparte Diamond Mines NL said March 12 that is has submitted tenement applications for an additional 6,000 km of phosphate exploration area identified within the regionally mapped zones of increased phosphate concentration off the cost of Namibia, in southern Africa. The 3,000 km project is south of Walvis Bay and is known as the Meob Project. Another 3,000 km project is north of the Bay and is known as the Rocky Point Project. Bonaparte says mapping indicates the areas have P205 content greater than 5 percent by weight, with core zones containing over 20 percent. Bonaparte says sampling results on 1,000 km at Meob shows that phosphate concentration of the recovered seabed sediment can be significantly enriched by a simple screening process to separate the fine fraction, a process which is well within the current tried and tested marine mining and dredging operations. The new applications have been submitted by Bonaparte Tungeni Joint Venture Company, a Namibian registered company in which Bonaparte’s Namibian partners, Tungeni Investments cc, hold a 30 percent interest, while Bonaparte is the operator with 70 percent. The applications are subject to processing by the Namibian Ministry of Mines and Energy. If successful, the venture will hold a total exploration area of 7,000 km. “We are working to consolidate a set of highly prospective properties to develop together with our Namibian partners as the basis for the establishment of a viable marine phosphate mining industry in Namibia,” said Michael Woodbourne, Bonaparte managing director. Bonaparte describes itself as a company focused on diamond producing, maintaining a portfolio of highly prospective projects located in the established diamond producing provinces in southern Africa and Australia. It claims to be the only company in Australia that conducts marine diamond exploration and is one of only a few companies internationally that owns a marine diamond sampling system.
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