LONDON, UK: Karelian Diamond Resources plc (AIM: KDR), a diamond exploration company, has announced that it has started a Nickel-Copper-Platinum Group Metals exploration programme in Northern Ireland.

The company has collected and sent a series of stream sediment samples from three licences to a Canadian laboratory for analysis.

The exploration programme follows the discovery of mineral indicators that suggest the presence of Nickel-Copper-Platinum mineralisation in one of the licences, during a stream sediment sampling programme for diamonds. The company also acquired two adjacent licences, covering a total area of about 750 km2, based on geological and geochemical data that showed anomalous levels of Platinum, Palladium and Gold in the soil samples. The area also contains mafic and/or ultramafic dyke-sill complexes, similar to those hosting the world class Noril’sk Nickel-Copper-Platinum deposit in Russia.

The samples have been sent to Overburden Drilling Management Limited in Canada, a leading laboratory for mineral concentration, picking and analysis using a trade-marked technique for detecting indicator minerals. The laboratory has been involved in several discoveries worldwide, including the Voisey’s Bay Ni-Cu-Co deposit in Labrador, Canada.

The company’s chairman, Professor Richard Conroy, said he was very pleased with the progress of the exploration programme for Nickel-Copper-Platinum Group minerals in Northern Ireland, which adds to the overall potential of the company. He said the company was also continuing its diamond exploration programme in the Kuhmo region of Finland, where it is aiming to discover a major diamond deposit.

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