Botswana Diamonds, Petra settle on data licence deal over Reivilo prospect

Petra and Botswana Diamonds have arrived on a 3% royalty deal over production revenue generated from Reivilo cluster of kimberlites (“Reivilo”) in the Barkley West area of South Africa. This is after Botswana Diamonds was issued with prospecting licence over the Reivilo prospect.

According to the agreement, Petra has 3% royalty while Botswana Diamonds gets access to insights Petra accumulated during their work on the area. The data will aid Botswana Diamonds in planning  of exploration programme, saving the company time and money.

Reivilo

Reivilo is located approximately 110 kilometres north-east of the actively producing Finsch diamond mine. Barkley West was the site of the first major diamond rush in South Africa in 1870. Exploration by the previous licence-holder Petra was reported to have delineated a cluster of three kimberlite pipes, with sizes of 3.1 hectares, 1.7 hectares and 0.9 hectares all within a 250-metre radius. Samples of the drilling core produced G10 and eclogitic garnets which are the optimal indicators for diamondiferous kimberlites.

John Teeling, chairman, commented; “We are very pleased with this award. When the ground became recently available, we immediately applied for the area. Botswana Diamonds management have long been aware of the diamond potential of this ground, and so we are delighted to have finally been awarded this high-profile exploration ground and look forward to updating shareholders in the near future on developments”.

South Africa’s diamond industry remains among the top 5 largest producers in the world. Initial discoveries were of alluvial diamonds (the mining of which continues today along the southern banks of the Orange River). Yet the richest diamond discoveries came to be found in deposits in the the ‘yellow’ and ‘blue’ ground that came to be called kimberlites (after the town Kimberly, near where the first kimberlite was discovered).