Botswana Diamonds updates on its exploration campaign

(ShareCast News) - Botswana Diamonds updated the market on its ongoing diamond exploration campaign in Botswana on Friday.The AIM-traded firm said the campaign is part of the 50/50 joint venture between Botswana Diamonds and Alrosa, the world's leading diamond producer.It said next stage exploration will begin on the Alrosa/Botswana Diamond Joint Venture at the end of September in the Orapa and Gope areas of Botswana.Four core holes will be drilled in Gope on PL 135, two core holes will be drilled on kimberlite AK22 on PL 260 in Orapa, and two core holes will be drilled on PL085 in Orapa.An intensive programme of geophysics and soil sampling will be carried out on the four other licences held in Gope, and an Alrosa team of seven specialists will be joined by Botswana Diamonds geologists and support crew.Botswana Diamonds said the final results are still awaited from the analysis of the 80 tons of material recovered from the two Large Diameter Drillholes on kimberlite AK21 on licence PL 260 in Orapa.Delays in finding a company in South Africa capable of concluding the work were compounded by an inconclusive result, the board explained.Concentrate is being returned to Botswana for evaluation by Alrosa specialists, it reported, and core which came from earlier boreholes on AK 21 is being sent to a laboratory for caustic fusion analysis."The Alrosa/Botswana Diamonds Joint Venture will shortly begin an intensive twelve week exploration programme on our ground in Botswana," said chairman John Teeling."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."Earlier work has pinpointed sites we believe may contain new diamondiferous kimberlites."Teeling said the company 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."We will also run electromagnetic and Transient Electromagnetic studies and soil sampling programmes across 6 licences," Teeling explained."Initial results are expected by year end. We are funded for this phase of exploration."