Stellar Receives Initial Approval for Tongo Mine License

(IDEX Online News) – London-listed Stellar Diamond plc announced that it has received verbal approval for a mining license regarding its 100-percent owned Tongo project from the Sierra Leone Minerals Advisory Board.

The company said that further progress of the licensing process rests with the National Minerals Agency, the licensing body of the ministry of mines, and subject to formally writing to Stellar and informing it of the decision. Sierra Leone minister of mines, Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray, will make the final decision on the license.

The fiscal terms of the mining license will be negotiated between Stellar and the Sierra Leone government, with the resultant mining concession agreement requiring parliamentary ratification.

In the meantime, the diamond miner will continue to liaise with the Environmental Protection Agency with regard to the license, which must be issued before any mining can commence.

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