Dubai firm acquires diamond mine in Sierra Leone

Gary King, non-executive chairman, Safa Afrique; Casey Hetman, principal consultant SRK Exploration; Cliff Fox, co-founder, Citigate International; Jay Adedayo, chief operating officer, Citigate Commodities Trading; Tohib Iyiola, CEO of Citigate International; Andrew Whitmarsh, director Citigate Commodities Trading; Shafaat Hashmi, vice-president at Brandbeat Advertising & Communications; and Raed AlKhars, CEO of International Investment Real Estate

Dubai is known for gold and diamond trade across the globe and the emirate is set to get a major boost in international market as Citigate Commodities Trading has acquired a 79.9 square kilometres diamond mine in Sierra Leone.
The Dubai-based company officially announced the acquisition of mega mining project at a gala event held in Dubai on Tuesday evening and said it would help boost diamond exports and trade for Middle East Market. The project, named as Safa Afrique, is expected to complete its exploration activities and begin Kimberlite mining in 18 months.
"Citigate Commodities Trading aims to boost diamond exports and trade for the Middle Eastern market by achieving a fully integrated operation, which is from exploration to export," Tohib Iyiola, chief executive of Citigate International said at the ceremony also held to mark the celebration of the company's first anniversary of Dubai Office.
Sierra Leone minister of mines and mineral resources Al Haji Minkailu Mansaray, dignitaries, business leaders and industry experts attended the grand launch of the project.  Citigate Commodities Trading is registered in DMCC with their head office in London.
Its parent company Citigate International, which has also launched the Citigate International Investment Trust, is domiciled in Hong Kong. The key strategic affiliates for the Safa Afrique project includes Noor Bank and SRK Exploration.
"We are proud to announce that tonight, we have achieved our first milestone towards our vision by launching the Safa Afrique diamond mining project. Our vision is to bridge the gap between the GCC and African region to capitalise on the natural resources sector and this is the first step towards our success," Iyiola said.
African region is famous for diamonds all over the world but it is perceived as a high risk business due to multiple legal and political factors. The initial exploration survey report by the world's leading firm SRK Exploration has expressed their confidence in the project during their geological survey.
Sierra Leone, which was among top 10 diamond producers until 2013 with 608,955 carats of production, exported diamonds worth $221.67 million in2014. The project, a 79.9sqkm diamond mining site is located next to the area where the 970-carat 'Star of Sierra Leone' diamond was discovered by miners on February 14, 1972.
It is also located close proximity to the largest diamond mine of West Africa which produces 120,000 carats per year. "Safa Afrique is focused on exploitation of granted mineral rights and developing of potentially high and economically viable mineral assets," Iyiola said.
Sharing 16-stage plan for Safa Afrique project, he said Citigate International Investment Trust has already signed agreement with Safa Afrique, which acquired mining license for the project in January this year.
"Mobilisation of alluvial diamond mining and Kimberlite exploration will start in June and resource drilling, bulk sampling process, mining alluvial diamond deposits, pitting and trenching is expected to complete in over 18 months," he said.
Iyiola said mineral resource estimate and life of mine report will be ready by January 2018 while the project's large scale diamond reserve mine mobilization and appointment of contract mining company is targeted by first quarter of 2018.
"Mining and exporting of Safa Afrique diamonds is likely to start in second quarter of 2018," he said.  Dubai is one of the top three diamond trading centres in the world and the annual diamond business in the UAE is valued at $30 billion.
Earlier this year, the UAE took over as chair of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme represented by Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), the UAE Ministry of Economy's authority for the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, and Dubai Diamond Exchange.
"Our aim is to introduce new investment vehicles which can assist investors from the GCC to participate in the vast natural resources and mineral reserves in Africa. We have made it secure, flexible and transparent by introducing an investment proposition with an income guarantee backed by a bank," Iyiola said.
"We are providing investors a platform to access the emerging market of diamond mining industry in West Africa through Citigate International Investment Trust. It is an industry which has a track record of exponential growth," he added.
He said Safa Afrique is an initiative created to serve as a synergy the finance and natural resources sector for capital appreciation purposes and an opportunity to diversify from the distressed oil and gas industry.
"Our investment proposition provides diversification to the regular investment portfolios". muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com