De Beers group targets sea gold

Cape Town - A joint venture between De Beers and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd expects to start its first underwater drilling for gold in the second quarter of next year, the general manager of De Beers Marine said on Friday.

De Beers Marine provides the technical support and exploration vessels for the world's biggest diamond producer, which mines offshore in South Africa but mainly in Namibia.

"At the moment we are focused on New Zealand as the first step of the new venture," Burger Greeff, general manager of De Beers Marine told Reuters in an interview.

"We are probably looking at towards the beginning of the second quarter of 2010 for first cores to be drilled in New Zealand."

De Beers, the world's top diamond producer, is 45% owned by global miner Anglo American Plc.

Announcing the marine exploration and mining joint venture in October, AngloGold said the firms would focus on marine deposits around the world for gold and other minerals, excluding diamonds, unless these occurred together with other minerals.

Greeff said they were targeting a 20 km region some 500 metres offshore of New Zealand's South Island, specifically looking for gold. Privately-owned Seafield Resources had rights to the offshore acreage, he added.

"The immediate targets after New Zealand would be South America, followed by Africa and then North America," he said.

Geologists from the joint venture have been prospecting all continents except Asia and Europe, said Greeff.

The initial drilling off New Zealand's coast would see 80 cores drilled at a depth of up to 200 metres, as part of an initial exploration campaign outlay of $4m, Greeff said.

- Reuters