AIM and BSE listed diamond explorer, Botswana Diamonds says initial indications from the analysis of samples from the drill campaign on its Thorny River diamond project in South Africa, are positive.
It said a two-week delay caused by local covid-19 issues means that the results will now be available in mid-August.
“The positive initial indications encouraged [Botswana Diamonds] to plan for additional drilling on the untested ground between the river and the already discovered kimberlite blows,” said company chairperson John Teeling.
“Site preparation is underway.”
Botswana Diamonds recently discovered a second kimberlite blow at Thorny River.
Independent specialists aggregated all the geophysical and drilling data to model the potential kimberlite volume of the two adjacent blows and the connecting kimberlite.
The updated model estimates a range for the two blows of between 300,000 to 600,000 tonnes in aggregate, which is up to a three-fold increase in the volume following the modelling of the first blow.
Botswana Diamonds’ expectation based on the historical grade of Thorny River / Marsfontain dykes is 60 carats per hundred tonnes (cpht).
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
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