Botswana Diamonds JV completes drill programme

Staff Writer | Thursday October 8, 2015 15:16

 

The programme targeted an anomaly discovered by Botswana Diamonds’ joint venture partner Alrosa using its Transient Electromagnetic Method (TEM), reinforced by soil sampling which had earlier discovered significant Kimberlite Indicator Minerals (KIMs).

Two of the three holes intersected the anomaly. The holes intersected intensively altered ultramafic rock. While kimberlite is an ultramafic rock, initial field analysis suggests this rock is older than the kimberlites found in the Orapa area.

Chrome spinellids and olivines which are significant KIMs are in the core. Detailed petrographic analysis of the drill core will take place in St Petersburg Russia to identify what is in the rock. The exploration team is continuing work on site, conducting further sampling and ground geophysics.

Chairman John Teeling, Chairman said: “The good news is that the techniques used by our partners Alrosa have worked in this instance by delineating ultramafic rock, of which kimberlite is one type buried under 90 meters of sand. The rock discovered is not Orapa kimberlite but appears to be another older ultramafic rock.

The core is now being processed to identify what it contains. Exploration on this block continues to identify the source of the two small diamonds we discovered in earlier work.”