Southstone Minerals Limited

Southstone Minerals Limited (Victoria, BC-headquartered, founded 2007) holds a 43% equity interest in African Star Minerals (Pty) Ltd ('ASM'), which owns 100% of the mining right for the producing Oena Diamond Mine, an 8,800-hectare New Order Mining Lease along a 15km stretch of the lower Orange River, Northern Cape Province, South Africa (renewed to 15 March 2027). ASM contracts the physical mining out (currently to Rietput Delwery (Pty) Ltd) under a contract mining and diamond recovery agreement entitling ASM to only 20% of gross diamond sales revenue (net of tender-house commissions and sale-related expenses; tiered 80:20/85:15 by tender size effective 1 Jul 2025) -- so Southstone's own disclosed effective economic interest in Oena's diamond-sales revenue is 8.6% (0.43 x 0.20), not a majority stake. Southstone/ASM manages diamond sales, mining consultation with the contractor, licence-compliance reporting and site security, and staffs ASM's CEO and the Oena site manager, but does not itself perform the extraction. Diamond production began 7 Nov 2023; the operation runs 24 hours/day, 6 days/week, targeting 3,000-3,500 tonnes/day of run-of-mine gravel processed through two 16-foot pan plants, with average recovered diamond values reported in excess of US$1,600/carat and ongoing quarterly sales (e.g. Q2 FY2026 gross diamond sales of US$3,713,181). In February 2025 the company signed a binding term sheet to acquire Afrium Energy Pte. Ltd. (holder of three uranium Prospecting Licenses in Botswana's Lekobolo Project) for 20,000,000 Southstone shares plus a 2.5% NSR to Afrium's shareholders; this diversification deal was mutually terminated effective 6 Jul 2026 (mutual release of claims, no shares issued, no royalty granted), so the company acquired no uranium asset. No NI 43-101/JORC resource or reserve has been reported for Oena's alluvial diamond gravels; production is reported in carats and $/carat. On 22 Sep 2026 Southstone announced an arrangement under which its Executive Chairman and Interim CEO, Terry L. Tucker, who holds about 14.3% of the shares, would acquire the rest for C$0.0375 per share in cash, about C$1.07 million in total; it needs shareholder, court and TSX Venture Exchange approval, and the shares would then be delisted.