A global miner hoping to revive the Kimberley diamond industry believes it may have discovered Australia's next big diamond field.

Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered more than 1,100 diamonds from a single drill hole at their Brooking project 1,800km north of Perth.

The project sits only 50 kilometres east of the mothballed Ellendale mine that once produced 50 per cent of the world's yellow diamonds and supplied stones to New York's famous Tiffany and Co.

It is the second significant discovery made by Lucapa since they began drilling for lamproite at Little Spring Creek last year.

Chairman Miles Kennedy has a long history of searching for diamonds, having set up the Ellendale mine almost 25 years ago.

He said after almost three decades in the diamond industry, the discovery of that many diamonds in a single drill hole was "unprecedented".

Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered more than 1,100 diamonds from a single drill hole on their Brooking project. ( Supplied: Lucapa Diamond Company. )

"It is three times as good as the first sensational find, so these two results together basically confirm that we certainly have one diamondiferous lamproite," he said.

"It's early days but it looks as if we have found Australia's next diamond field and if that is the case, this is the beginning of a very long and happy developing story."

New technology a 'game-changer'

The Ellendale Diamond province has seen many diamond mining ventures, including the embattled miner Kimberley Diamond Company whose project went into administration in 2015.

Mr Kennedy said advances in technology and new geophysical mapping techniques allowed them to cover old ground with more accuracy.

"What become Kimberley Diamond Company picked up that land, we were able to find and mine diamonds at Ellendale, we also explored the Brooking Little Spring area [but] we didn't have the great geological tools like we have today," he said.

"As it turned out we missed these targets by a kilometre [and] the new tools seem to be indicating that this is in fact a whole new discovery."

Lucapa Diamond Company has been using a helicopter-borne technology to complete a geophysics survey over their Brooking project in the West Kimberley. ( Supplied: Lucapa Diamond Company )

Mr Kennedy said the company was still awaiting results from the core samples retrieved from the remaining seven drill holes, which were being processed in a specialist laboratory in Canada.

The company has used helicopter-borne technology to complete a geophysics survey over their entire Brooking project, which had also identified an additional 11 drilling targets within a radius of 10km Little Spring Creek.

Ellendale back up for grabs

The announcement of Lucapa's diamond haul comes only days after the Department of Mines, Industry, Safety and Regulation opened expressions of interest for the old Ellendale mine.

The mine went into administration in 2015, after Kimberley Diamond Company relinquished its mining lease and environmental liabilities — reportedly up to $40 million — back to the State Government.

And another diamond company exploring on the other side of Ellendale, POZ Minerals, has its eye on the mothballed mine.

Some of the diamonds recovered from the Terrace 5 trial mining in 2005, with the largest stone measuring 8.4 carats. ( Supplied: POZ Minerals )

Already holding mining and exploration leases over 40km of diamond-bearing alluvial channels at its Blina diamond trial, executive chairman Jim Richards said he believed POZ was in the box seat to take on the Ellendale tender.

"Any of the other bidders would pretty much have to start from scratch in terms of trying to bring in mining equipment but the big elephant in the room is the Native Title issues over the lease," he said.

"Thankfully we've done a lot of that heavy lifting already and got a full mining agreement set up between Bunuba [Dawangarri Aboriginal Corporation] and POZ Minerals."

The Blina diamond mine announcement follows a historic Mining Agreement between POZ Minerals Limited and the Bunuba Dawangarri Aboriginal Corporation. ( Supplied: POZ Minerals )

With the world's biggest source of yellow diamonds potentially still in the ground, he said the right operator could make Ellendale pay where others had failed.

"The signature stone which is the beautiful yellow diamonds that you get from Ellendale 9 are particularly sought after and could form the basis of a fantastic business," he said

"With the newly elevated diamond prices and the drop in Australian dollar … I think there's a wonderful opportunity to get a profitable diamond mining operation on the go up there."

Time ticking for Australian diamond industry

Mr Richards said with the closure of the Argyle Diamond Mine only 18 months away, renewed investment in the Kimberley diamond sector was critical for the continuation of the industry in Australia, which sources 90 per cent of its diamonds from the East Kimberley mine.

However POZ Minerals could face some competition bidding for the Ellendale lease from other explorers in the region.

Dex Ex Resources are the third miner to begin diamond exploration near the old Ellendale mine this year. ( Supplied: Dev Ex Resources )

Last month an Australian uranium and copper miner became the third explorer to join the search for diamonds in the West Kimberley, lodging eight exploration licence applications, covering 2,700 square kilometres between Ellendale and Argyle.

If the EOI process is successful and a new operator is found for Ellendale, the Department of Mining estimates it will take at least two years for a new mining lease to be granted.

As of June last year, the Department had spent $232,000 to stabilise the site and make the area safe, to ensure it remained usable for potential future diamond production.

The EOI submissions for Ellendale will close on November 30.