Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) issued a mixed update on its exploration activities in Botswana but believes there are enough positives for it to press ahead with work aimed at furthering the assessment of its key prospects, most notably the AK9 structure, which is believes to hold considerable upside potential.
The company is currently intent on refining the grade per ton and value per carat of diamonds discovered by prior work in kimberlites AK9, AK8 and BK5 in Botswana.
A review of earlier work on AK9 has suggested it could hold high grade kimberlite, with a micro-diamond analysis indicating the possibility of grades of between 80-160 carats per hundred tonnes (cpht). The compares to the historic overall grade of 2.5 to 3.5 cpht.
John Teeling, chairman of Botswana Diamonds, says the finding could transform the potential of AK9 and the group is now preparing to drill one or more core holes to a depth of 300 metres to further test the kimberlite in the AK9 structure.
At AK8 the first pass processing of the bulk sample is now complete. The recovered stones are larger than anticipated which should result in higher value per carat but the grade is below expectations. The anticipated final grade is now expected to be 5 cpht or lower.
The processing of the historic stockpile material on BK5 produced no diamonds during first pass processing. An additional bulk sample of 1,000 tons was excavated and is now being processed.
The company plans to issue a full report on both AK8 and BK5 kimberlites by mid-August.
The company also announced that application was made in March to the Geological Survey of Botswana to extend the life of two licences PL04/2002, which contains AK8, AK9 and BK5, and PL07/2004, both of which were due to expire on June 30th.
The application was well received and the company has been informed the paperwork granting the extension is being processed and will be issued in due course.
Furthermore, a thorough review of available ground in Botswana has led to application being made for a number of additional areas.
Commenting on the latest findings from Bostwana, Teeling said the results are “interesting”. On the “very positive” side, the review of AK9 suggests grades of over 100 cpht might be present.
The second piece of encouraging news for Teeling is that preliminary results from bulk sampling AK8 has produced a population of bigger diamonds than anticipated. “This has positive implications for value per carat but the overall grade in the sample is below expectation, likely to be 5 cpht or less when the programme is completed.
While BK5 is clearly “a disappointment”, Teeling feels the potential unearthed in AK9 offers “exciting upside potential which is over and above what we expected when we started this programme."
Aside from Botswana, the company is pursuing opportunities to participate in diamond exploration in Zimbabwe and Cameroon.