Botswana Diamonds discovers new kimberlite blow at Thorny River

Botswana Diamonds reported the discovery of a new, second kimberlite blow at Thorny River on Wednesday, reporting that the new blow, or swell in the kimberlite dyke, was about the same size as the River Blow discovered at Thorny River in November last year.

The AIM-traded firm said a doubling of the planned six holes to 12 took the discovery close to the River discovery, with the widest kimberlite intersected being 18 metres.

Its board said it expected that further drilling should join the two discoveries into one continuous blow.

“These are very good results - what was originally a six-hole reverse circulation drilling programme going eastwards from the River Blow was led westwards by good ongoing drilling indications, including one hole with an 18-metre intersection of kimberlite,” said chairman John Teeling.

“An additional six holes brought the drilling close to the River Blow.”

Teeling said the company expected the next phase of drilling to join the two discoveries into one continuous blow.

“This would double the volume of ore.

“It is worth noting that the kimberlite dyke system at Thorny River contains an average 60 diamond carats per 100 tons of ore.

“We expect the current discovery to maintain that pattern.”

At 1111 BST, shares in Botswana Diamonds were up 18.05% at 1.21p.