Botswana Diamonds completes 'exciting' drilling at Frischgewaagt

Diamond explorer Botswana Diamonds said on Thursday it completed the first phase of drilling at the flagship Vutomi project in Frischgewaagt, 280km north of Johannesburg.

The AIM-traded company said 34 percussion and nine diamond drill holes drilled were completed on the kimberlite dyke, with two "blows" discovered on the dyke system from the drill programme.

High interest olivines, G10 and G9 garnets were recovered, and the samples were submitted for microdiamond analysis, with results expected within two months.

The geology was very similar to the high value Marsfontein mine, located 20km away, the board reported.

Another round of drilling was to be completed in April and May, to identify the area for bulk sampling.

Botswana said the modelled per carat value was $259/ct on diamonds recovered from earlier drilling.

“Frischgewaagt is turning into a very exciting project,” said chairman John Teeling.

“What we see in the drilling we like.

“To date we have discovered two "blows" on the kimberlite dyke system.”

Teeling said the company was moving to delineate the size of each one, and the drilling samples contained high quantities of diamond indicator minerals of similar profile to the highly profitable Marsfontein mine some 20km away.

“In the next two months we should have results from the microdiamond analyses and further information on the size and composition of the kimberlite dykes.”