RAPAPORT...  BRC DiamondCore Ltd. and Rio Tinto established an agreement under which Rio Tinto will fund the exploration of certain parts of BRC's Tshikapa kimberlite project in the Kasai-Occidental province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A joint letter of intent also proposed that Rio Tinto could hold the right to earn a 75 percent interest in a joint-venture holding company created for the project, with BRC retaining the remaining 25 percent.

A drilling program is expected to commence at Tshikapa later this month. Tshikapa is situated in the kimberlite emplacement corridor that extends northeast from the kimberlite fields of the Lunda Norte province in Angola, a highly prospective region that has produced over 100 million carats of diamonds.

LH