Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) has landed a new exploration licence in Cameroon, near an ‘intriguing’ diamond discovery.
The new licence covers an 8,087 square kilometre area in the eastern part of Cameroon. The company has an 85 percent stake in the project, alongside local partners.
The initial reconnaissance phase of the licence last for one year after which the partners have an automatic right to renew for a further year. After that it can apply for one or more multi-year exploration licences of up to 1,000 square kilometres each.
"This is an exciting opportunity and gives us early mover advantage in what is an emerging diamond province,” chairman John Teeling said.
The licence is adjacent to the Mobilong licence area, where a Korean group is understood to have made a significant discovery recently. Botswana Diamonds highlights that a one million carat a year mine is reportedly coming on stream at Mobilong by 2012.
“The Mobilong discovery being developed by a Korean company is intriguing the industry,” Teeling added.
“Little information is available and the value per carat is unknown. Few have seen the diamonds but the deposit appears to be a big ancient alluvial paleo placer.”
Initially early stage prospecting will use detailed satellite imagery as well as a review of existing information to identify the extent and distribution of diamond bearing host rock. The company will then visit the site to find prospecting targets.
It said that the work will focus on selecting the most promising 1,000 square kilometres of ground, which will to then be retained as a three year exploration licence.
“Our licence area is very big, 8,087 square kilometres. Over the coming year, we will work to reduce this to 1,000 square kilometres by identifying specific areas likely to contain diamonds," Teeling said.