Stellar Diamonds agrees sale price for Guinea assets

West Africa-focussed diamond development company Stellar Diamonds announced on Monday that it has signed conditional share purchase agreements with Gold Knight - a wholly-owned subsidiary company of BDG Capital - in relation to the proposed sale of Stellar's assets in the Republic of Guinea, as it had previously announced on 5 June and 14 August.

The AIM-traded firm said that, following the due diligence process undertaken by BDG, a final purchase price of $1.25m had been agreed for the transaction, of which Stellar had received $0.5m to date.

It said the proceeds already received had been applied to the company's working capital since June.

Completion of the transaction and receipt of the balance of funds remained conditional upon payment by Stellar of certain government taxes in Guinea, amounting to approximately $0.123m which were due by Stellar's locally-incorporated subsidiary in Guinea which was being sold.

Completion was expected to occur later this month, Stellar said, adding that a further announcement would be made in due course regarding completion.

“We are delighted to be able to bring the disposal of our Guinea assets to a close,” said chief executive Karl Smithson.

“Stellar's carrying cost in Guinea is approximately $70,000 per month and we look forward to focusing our resources exclusively on progressing the high-grade and high value 4.5 million carat Tongo-Tonguma kimberlite mine development project in Sierra Leone.

"We wish BDG every success in taking the Guinea projects forward.”