TASHIKAPA

Reported that a deposit of 125,000 carats has been delineated at an average grade of 0.84ct/m3 in gravels up to 6 metres thick in places, and the exploration programme is continuing

6 and 8-inch diameter Banka drilling is being conducted on the Mukeba and Terra-Z Tshikapa permits. These programs are returning positive results with the recovery of diamonds and will be reported when complete results covering a larger area are available and interpreted.

Results were announced from an extensive alluvial exploration progam on the Tshikapa area. A total of 1,809 diamonds weighing 222.26 carats have been recovered. The average recovered diamond grade was 0.67 carats per cubic meter with the highest diamond grade being 13 carats per cubic meter. An independent De Beers valuation of 213.69 carats has returned an average value of US$41.60 per carat. The largest diamond weighing 1.37 carats was valued at $730 per carat. Drilling and geophysical work is expected to commence within the next month on the Tshikapa and Kasai rivers area. In early 2006 the geological modeling and target selection was completed with the assistance of the alluvial consultant John Ward. It was later decided that the smaller active channel river deposits, which although rich, are difficult to locate and difficult to bulk mine. SouthernEra had previously reported recovering 1809 diamonds totaling 220.60 carats from these types of deposit. From a small diamond parcel (averaging ~US$45/ct), one 1.37 carat diamond attained a value of US$730/ct. These deposits will be farmed out to a company specializing in this type of mining in 2007.