YDMC History

The Diamond Finders

The Youssef Diamond Mining Company is the leading diamond research and exploration company in Liberia. For over 30 years YDMC has engaged in developing enhanced techniques, scientific methods and satellite imagery to determine the location of diamond rich areas.

The founder and Chairman of YDMC is Mr. Roger Youssef, a geologist and diamond expert Dr. Stephen Haggerty is the YDMC Chief Geologist and Scientist. Dr. Haggerty is world-renowned for his scientific research and writing.

The Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Lands, Mines & Energy granted Youssef Diamond Mining Company (YDMC) an exploration license (MEL 11035) in 2013 for diamonds. After three years, YDMC applied for a two-year extension of the exploration license with a fifty percent reduction of the original license area of 996.32 km2 to 496.58 km2. In 2016, the Minister approved the application for the extension, and YDMC was granted a new license (MEL 2121-16) on March 29, 2016.

During the period of the original license (MEL 11035), YDMC discovered the Camp Alpha dikes d pipe. Trenching and pitting operations discovered that the dikes are near vertical, measuring about (~10 m in width, and ~ 1 km in length). The pipe was carefully delineated and found to be ~500 m in length, 40 and -50 m in width with an area of about 22,500 m2 [2.25 hectares]. The walls are vertical and contacts with the country rock are sharp; the overburden thickness of the humus layer is ~ 1m; the eluvial horizon is 1-1.5 m thick; and the solid kimberlite, like most known pipes in the world, may go down to the depth f over 200 km.

With this finding, a resource estimate to the depth of 100 meters of the pipe yielded a resource material of over 2,250,000 m3.

As anticipated the current rapid exploration initiative indicates there are more kimberlite bodies across the YDMC mineral property to be unearthed. YDMC is excited and therefore poised to employ modern exploration techniques to unearth suitable kimberlites with economic diamond grades that will support the first hard rock (Kimberlite) diamond mine in Liberia.

With this discovery, the next step is for YDMC to go into a mineral development agreement (MDA) with the Government of Liberia. Nevertheless, to do this, an important prerequisite is a qualified evaluation of the grade and quality of the potential resource/deposit. Hence, YDMC applied to carry out a bulk-sampling program.