Pangolin Diamonds Corp. (CVE:PAN) shares were rising sharply Wednesday as the company said it drilled a new hole at its Magi discovery that intersected kimberlite from 35 metres depth to 94 metres.
Shares of Pangolin jumped over 20% in early trades in Toronto to 29 cents.
The Magi discovery earlier this year was welcomed with open arms by shareholders, who pushed up the stock some 64% in mid-October after the company announced that it modeled Magi at 270 hectares, making it one of the largest kimberlites in the world.
The kimberlite is part of the company's 100%-owned Tsabong North project in Botswana.
"The Magi-04 drill hole result is consistent with the geophysical model for the kimberlite," said chairman Dr. Leon Daniels. "Geological modeling of the kimberlite will continue well into 2014. "
Indeed, Pangolin said that Magi has now been confirmed over a distance of 1,200 metres in an east-west direction and 400 metres to the north, with further work to continue.
Six additional holes have been laid out for core drilling to confirm the modeled size of the Magi kimberlite, according to the company's statement, and will be used for analysis in preparation for potential larger diameter drilling.
One hole will be drilled to a minimum depth of 250 metres of kimberlite intersection, the company said. Core samples from all the holes will be submitted to the lab to recover any additional indicator minerals and of course, any diamonds.
Pangolin also noted that logging of the core suggests that Magi is of syn-Karoo age, making it older than the Cretaceous diamondiferous kimberlites of the Tsabong kimberlite field further to the south that are dated at 78 million years. It said the Magi core could potentially be similar in age to the Jwaneng kimberlites which are 245 million years old.
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.