An aerial view of Marsfontein Image credit: Botswana Diamonds
Botswana Diamonds has resumed its fieldwork at the Marsfontein diamond development project, in South Africa after a three-month lockdown.
South Africa’s gradual easing of its lockdown had somewhat sidelined exploration companies although their operations involved few people in isolated areas.
“Good to be back in the field assessing the Marsfontein gravels…,” said company managing director James Campbell in a tweet.
Botswana Diamonds recovered more than 100 macro-diamonds from Marsfontein following a bulk sampling campaign, which was carried out with the company’s royalty mining contractor Eurafrican Diamond Corporation.
The Aim and BSE listed diamond explorer said that 87 macro diamonds were recovered from the fresh kimberlite giving a modelled grade of 50cpht, while 24 macro diamonds were recovered from one of the residual stockpiles, known as Dump E giving a modelled grade of 16cpht.
Botswana Diamonds had planned to investigate options on exploitation of the dumps once the nationwide lock down in South Africa is lifted and a sense of normality returns to diamond markets, post the global Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
