Mining business Paragon Diamonds has agreed to acquire an additional 54.2 per cent stake in International Diamond Consultants (IDC), bringing its total interest up to 98.5 per cent.

Mining business Paragon Diamonds has agreed to acquire an additional 54.2 per cent stake in International Diamond Consultants (IDC), bringing its total interest up to 98.5 per cent.

The London-headquartered business will pay £12.1 million for the stake in IDC, an amount which is to be satisfied by the issue of 35,670,705 new ordinary shares at a price of 34 pence per share.

IDC is a mining exploration business which has operations in Lesotho and Zambia.

IDC’s core mining exploration projects are the Lemphane kimberlite project in Lesotho and the Kaplamp lampoite and Kabale kimberlite projects in Zambia.

Frank Scolaro, chairman of Paragon, comments: ‘The acquisition of this further significant interest of IDC is transformational for the shareholders of Paragon. Both Lemphane kimberlite and the lamproites [mining projects] in Zambia offer significant growth potential, both in production of quality stones and increase in revenue stream for the company.’

In issuing the new shares, Paragon will also settle an outstanding debt amount of £450,000 that was owed to Dragon Equities by IDC.