(IDEX Online News) – West-Africa-focused diamond development company Stellar Diamonds plc announced that it has signed binding heads of terms with Dubai-based commodities group over joint ventures in Guinea and Liberia.

The proposed joint ventures are conditional upon completion of due diligence by Citigate Commodities Trading, and the parties entering into definitive joint venture agreements (JVA) for each project.

Highlights of the proposed Baoulé joint venture include staged earn-in by Citigate of up to 75 percent of the Baoulé project; Stellar to be paid an up-front Phase 1 management fee of $150,000 on signing full JVA; Stellar to receive 56.25-percent of gross revenues from Phase 1 trial mining and Citigate awarded off-take rights on goods exported during the Citigate earn-in process.

Highlights of the proposed Liberia joint venture include two new exploration licenses recently awarded to Stellar, as well as similar expenditures on various phases of the process.

“The terms of the joint ventures are highly attractive to Stellar in that we have essentially secured a free carried interest at both Baoulé and our new Liberian licences,” said Stellar chief executive Karl Smithson.

“These joint ventures allow the key management of Stellar to focus efforts on the development of our high-grade Tongo project in Sierra Leone as we progress towards the mining phase, whilst retaining equity positions in both the Baoulé and Liberia projects.”