(IDEX Online News) – Stellar Diamonds plc has announced that its mining license application for its 100-percent owned Tongo Dyke-1 Project in Sierra Leone is making progress.

Sierra Leone’s National Minerals Agency has processed the application for the 1.45-million carat Tongo project, and public disclosure meetings have been held in relation to the Environmental License Application, after the company submitted environmental, social and health impact assessments. Stellar believes that opening the mine will create significant local employment opportunities.

“Whilst we await the formal granting of this we are considering appropriate funding structures for the future commercial development of the mine to take advantage of the robust economics demonstrated in last year’s Preliminary Economic Assessment, which supports the development of an open pit and subsequent underground mine,” said Stellar chief executive, Karl Smithson. 

Stellar Diamonds plc is a diamond development company focused on West Africa.