Canadian company sells its Namibian diamond interests to Monaco-based businessman




The Toronto Stock Exchange-listed company Diamond Fields Resources is selling its mining interests in Namibia to Jean-Boulle Diamond Mines.


Diamond Fields owns 100% stakes in mining licences 111 and 139 in Luderitz, Karas region. 


The Boulle Diamond Mines belongs to the Monaco-based Mauritian businessman Jean-Raymond Boulle, whose other company, Spirit Resources SARL, holds a 39.1% interest in Diamond Field Resources.


Since its foundation in 1995, the group has signed more than US$5 trillion in transactions and is listed on London, Toronto, Sydney and Mauritius stock exchanges.


Mining licence 111 is 31 175ha. The company applied for the licence on 29 September 2000, and the mines ministry granted it on 4 December 2015 for 10 years.


Diamond Fields applied for licence 139 on 12 January 2005, which was granted from 5 November 2007 until 4 November 2029. It is 13 587ha.


The company also has a 70% stake in its Namibian subsidiary, Namibian Diamond Company Pty, which owns mining licence 32 in Luderitz, Karas region. This area covered by licence 32 is 17 000ha. 

Boulle Diamond Mines will pay Diamond Fields an initial amount of US$150,000, followed by annual cash payments of US$100,000.


Diamond Fields will also be entitled to a 1% net sales royalty from the Namibian mining interests.

In a statement released on 28 November 2022, Diamond Fields said the annual payment for licence 111 would be US$90,000 and US$5 000 each for 139 and 32 from 1 September 2023 until Boulle Diamond Mines loses the relevant licence or by 1 September 2035.


Diamond Fields chief executive officer John McGloin said they sold their interest in Namibia to enable them to focus on developing attractive gold options.


"The sale of the diamond assets will enable us to focus on the development of our portfolio of attractive gold growth options whilst ensuring that Diamond Feilds Resources shareholders retain a share in any future diamond production," McGloin said.


He added that the recent progress at the Cascades Gold Project in Burkina Faso is encouraging and demonstrates the significant potential to expand the reported mineral resource estimate.


Boulle founded, chaired and held majority shares in Diamond Fields Resources, where he was also the chief executive officer. 


Although the Boulle Mining Group is based in Luxembourg, Boulle founded it in Dallas, Texas.


Raymond Boulle's full biography


Jean-Raymond Boulle (born 1950) started his career at the De Beers Diamond Trading Company, where he worked for ten years in Zaire, Sierra Leone and Antwerp, Belgium. After that, he established Boulle Inc. in Dallas, Texas, US.


In 1984 he began exploring for diamonds, first in Minnesota, then in Arkansas.


In 1987 he formed Arkansas Diamond Development Co. to carry out exploration work on the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas.


Jean-Raymond Boulle is the founder of Diamond Fields Resources Inc, Diamond Fields International Ltd, America Mineral Fields Inc, and Titanium Resources Group Ltd, four publicly traded companies with deposits of nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, titanium and diamonds.


Jean-Raymond Boulle is also a member of the Board of the Corporate Council on Africa ('CCA'). He has maintained a longstanding involvement with the CCA since it was established in 1993 to promote business and investment between the United States and the nations of Africa.


Jean-Raymond Boulle was chairman, founder and CEO as well as a significant shareholder of Diamond Fields (Diamond Fields Resources Inc. TSE: DFR), which commenced trading on the Vancouver Stock Exchange on 6 April 1993 and, in late 1994, discovered nickel, copper and cobalt ore bodies at Voisey's Bay Mine in Labrador, Canada. The Voisey's Bay Mine deposit was estimated to contain 141 million tonnes at 1.6% nickel.


Jean-Raymond Boulle was awarded Sierra Leone's highest order of merit – Commander of the Order of the Rokel – by His Excellency Alhaji Ahmad Tejan, the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, in recognition of the contribution that Mr Boulle has made to the country and people of Sierra Leone over 30 years.


Jean-Raymond Boulle and Robert Friedland worked together in Diamond Fields, and in 1996, the Voisey's Bay Mine Project was purchased by Inco for C$ 4.3 billion.

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