Botswana Diamonds renews two Sunland prospecting licences
Botswana Diamonds has announced the renewal of prospecting licences 232 and 235 of 2015, owned by its wholly-owned subsidiary Sunland Minerals.
The licence renewal is for a two-year period from 1 October. Recent aeromagnetic and surveys, followed by targeted ground magnetic surveys and soil sampling, had identified drill targets on the licences. The AIM-traded firm said the two licences were 60 and 164 square kilometres in size, respectively, were situated to the west of the Ghaghoo diamond mine in the central Kalahari, and were considered highly prospective.
The nearest kimberlite to the licences was Go194, part of the Gope or Ghaghoo kimberlite pipe cluster, close to the south-eastern point of PL235 which was 20 kilometres from the Ghaghoo diamond mine where Botswana Diamonds held an interest as operator.
Considerable infrastructure
There was “considerable” infrastructure at Ghaghoo, the board said, which would facilitate the servicing of a drilling campaign, adding that the economics of any discovery on the ground would be improved by the closeness of an existing mine.
Environmental management plan for future drilling had also been completed and approved. The licenses formed part of Botswana’s joint venture with Diamexstrat and Burgundy Diamond Mining, as announced on 16 February. Any work programme would be funded as part of the earn-in arrangement by the joint venture partners.
“Botswana Diamonds believes that there is the potential for significant new diamond discoveries in the Kalahari. We have quietly built exploration acreage, while partnering with Diamexstrat and Burgundy Diamond Mining to finance exploration,” said managing director James Campbell.
