UK-listed Gem Diamonds Ltd., which owns the Letseng mine in Lesotho, said it made a cash offer of $83 million (£41.9 million) to acquire the British gold and diamond miner BDI Mining Corp. %% The offer of 37 pence per share is at an 8.8 per cent premium to BDI’s closing share price on April 10. %% The acquisition gives Gem Diamonds an 80 per cent stake in the Cempaka alluvial diamond mine in Indonesia, where the smaller of two palaeochannels has produced 70,000 carats averaging over $250 per carat, since 2005. %% BDI also owns the Woodlark Gold Project in Papua New Guinea, whose gold resources exceed 1 million ounces. %% Clifford Elphick, the chairman and chief executive of Gem Diamonds, said: “We believe that our expertise in alluvial diamond mining, together with our intention to undertake additional investment in the Cempaka mine, will significantly enhance the operational performance of Cempaka.” %% In February 2007, Gem Diamonds listed on the London Stock Exchange and raised over $600 million to fund four projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and one in the Central African Republic.