Pangolin Diamonds Corp. (CVE:PAN) says it has discovered one of the largest kimberlites in the world -- modeled at 270 hectares -- at its Tsabong North project in Botswana.
This compares with the Se251 kimberlite in Angola that measures 220 hectares -- another of the world's largest kimberlites -- and the MK1 in Botswana that measures some 180 hectares.
The company said in a statement Wednesday that the new discovery stems from its findings earlier this year of two kimberlites -- Magi-01 and Magi-02 -- at the Tsabong North project. These Magi kimberlites are in fact part of a single intrusive complex, according to the release, with a total surface area estimated at 270 hectares.
The conclusions were made after aeromagnetic data on the two original kimberlites were submitted by the company for an NI 43-101 compliant independent review.
Based on these observations, the company drilled a new hole between the Magi-01 and Magi-02 kimberlites, intersecting the same "sandy tuffs" as in the previous two drill holes, confirming that the Magi-kimberlite is indeed a single large body and not two smaller kimberlites as initially thought.
Pangolin said Wednesday that further work will begin shortly, with seven additional holes laid out for core drilling to determine the final size of the Magi-kimberlite. Each hole will intersect at least 100 metres of kimberlite to recover any additional indicator minerals, and any diamonds, it added.
"The geophysical models available to Pangolin strongly suggest the potential for discovering additional very large kimberlites in the Tsabong North Project area," said chairman Dr. Leon Daniels in the release.
Indeed, the company has already identified two new kimberlite drill targets with total intrusive areas modeled at 170 hectares and 175 hectares, respectively.
Pangolin says that the Magi-kimberlite is of "syn-Karoo" age, making it older than the Cretaceous diamondiferous kimberlites of the Tsabong kimberlite field further to the south.
The company, which has four exploration properties in the world’s leading country for diamond production by value, is focused on Tsabong North, which is about 100 km north of the town of Tsabong in southwestern Botswana. The diamond explorer has found more than 50 drill-ready targets in the area, several of which have surface areas greater than 20 hectares.
Earlier this month, Pangolin began diamond core drilling at its Jwaneng South project in Botswana. Since the company began activity at this project in 2011, it has identified more than 20 drill-ready kimberlite targets.
Investors are certainly buying into the upside potential of Pangolin's exploration targets, with its stock surging 67 per cent in the last three months, currently sitting at 30 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange.