See www.riverdiamonds.co.uk !!!

Hi Driver and Oilyrag: I bought in on Friday, too: at 2.74p. Had been keeping my eye on this and had the usual dilemma of deciding what to sell first. Anyway, great to see this in profit already - hope it keeps going up from here!

oily .... as far as I can see, then most of the shares that TMP have in RVD were obtained in the recent private placing. They got 250m @ 1.5p. So that isn't a bad return for them in less than a month. Prior to the placing, they held 20m. So they picked those up before recent rise in RVD share price. Only the last 15m shares TMP have picked up in RVD were since the placing and in the open market. The Chairman of TMP was a Manager at the Fiji mine (that RVD have their 19% interest in) a few years ago (1989-1992). So presume he has utilized his knowledge and connections to build the holding in RVD.... So I'd say TMP had been pretty canny so far with picking up RVD shares. Time will tell if fall in TMP share price is due to them
a). initially being 'overpriced' at IPO
b). the recent seller getting out at any price for whatever reason
c). a skeleton in the cupboard yet to come out

... Await with interest the progress of both RVD and TMP....

I must be honest but until last week I'd never heard of Templar diamonds. Their MD used to be with Emporer Mining and so must be fairly knowledgeable about the Fijian mine. Surely he wouldn't back buying into RVD in such a large quantity if there was nothing there. What really confuses me at the moment is why, if there is considerable value left in the mine, then why did Emporer mining pull out, or where they pushed. Can anyone shine any light on this, thanks.

This is what previous TMP RNS included: "The mine was placed on care and maintenance in December last year due to corporate problems with its previous owner's gold hedging book and non related issues. The Directors believe that these issues no longer impact the Emperor mining operations and the expected re-commissioning of the mine later this year."

Note Fat Prophet's article from Feb 2006:
http://www.emperor.com.au/abouteml/FatProphets_28Feb06.pdf

And whilst on the subject of Gold, why did Gordon Brown flog off the UK gold at $2xx / oz ?

TMP's on the up.

Survived87... because he needed the cash to build his great economic dam behind which he has built his UK economic miracle which is just about to breach the dam!

diydave..... pity about the price he got for it (gold bullion) at the time he flogged it ..... it'd have been useful to keep a bit back for rainy days at Northern Rock.....

PS: 'nice' to see both RVD and TMP mid-price up on the day ....

TMP now up 34%+ I got my timing wrong should have gone for the other one.

RVD up 20% or so, going great guns at mo.

Fast approaching my top slicing point for a free ride.

oilyrag
Cheers oily for pointing this one I haven't got many but a profit is profit I dumped a couple of bio minnows that havent moved since I bought RVD

I missed all the fun on this one today, having sold a couple of days ago to buy BRR. Still, that's moving up and RVD had made a small profit so I guess I shouldn't grumble. I'm wondering whether to get back into RVD - will see what happens over the next few days, seems to have reached a bit of a halt at 3.95 - hope it falls back for me!

Vatukoula pours first gold
Wednesday November 14, 2007


The first gold has been poured from Fiji's Vatukoula mine since the operation was placed on care-and-maintenance in December by former owner DRD Gold subsidiary Emperor Gold Mines.

In a statement last week, River Diamonds PLC, which owns a 19 per cent interest in the share capital of Westech (the Australian company which owns the mine), says some 503 oz of gold was extracted from the commissioning of the mineral processing circuit at the Vatukoula late last month.

River Diamonds through its wholly owned direct and indirect subsidiaries, owns the mining rights and associated assets of the Emperor Gold Mine in Fiji, also known as the Vatukoula Gold Mine.

The company says the operational shafts have now been re-commissioned and the ore and waste passes will be ready over the next week.

Westech anticipates the first underground blast to occur in the next three weeks in readiness for the plant commissioning scheduled for late November.

Westech is indirectly controlled by Red Lion Management, a global merchant bank based in Vancouver, Canada.

It bought the Vatukoula mine earlier this year from South Africa's DRDGold's Australasian subsidiary, Emperor Mines.

OILY .... prob not for me, but i'll try to have a proper look late this afternoon .... shall be out until then, pretty much as of now

Going goon again.

1,650,000 share deal just gone through at mid price. I believe its a purchase as its higher than most sales for the day, lets see if the price now starts to rise.

oilyrag
It hasnt gone higher but its staying green.

In a falling market, thats the same as a rise in my book.

Still going in the right direction.

RVD has surpassed my top slicing point and I have so far resisted as I feel that there is still some way to go. So I shall now increase my retained %age on a free ride and take a little profit.