Things are hotting up at Botswana Diamonds plc's (LON:BOD) joint venture with Russian state diamond giant Alrosa, with an intensive 12 week week exploration programme about to kick off.
Botswana chairman and mining veteran John Teeling said the firm was funded for the work starting at the end of this month.
"Core holes will be drilled on three licences, two on the known kimberlite AK22 in Orapa, two on licence PL 085 also in Orapa and four on licence PL 135 in Gope," he said.
"Earlier work has pinpointed sites we believe may contain new diamondiferous kimberlites."
Geophysics and soil sampling will be carried out on the four other licences in Gope, while Alrosa is sending a team of seven specialists.
Teeling added: "We are drilling two holes on AK 22, a known kimberlite containing diamonds. We had expected to have the results from a bulk sample of 80 tons of materials on an adjacent pipe AK 21 but lack of processing capacity in Botswana and issues with a facility in South Africa have to date produced inconclusive results.
"We are having to re-examine the concentrate as well as analyse fresh core from earlier drillings."
Electromagnetic studies and Transient Electro Magnetic (TEM) studies and soil sampling programmes are being run across six licences, with initial results expected by year end."