TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-V-listed explorer Pangolin Diamonds has found a volcanic intrusion with diamond-inclusion-type ilmenites at its Mmadinare project, in north-eastern Botswana.

The prospector on Wednesday said independent laboratory analysis by CF Mineral Laboratories of Kelowna, British Columbia, had returned five manganese-rich, or Mn-ilmenites, from 20 kg of material taken from a discovery pit at a 2 m depth, in the central part of the intrusion.

The five Mn-ilmenites, which were discovered through pitting from surface, were  similar to ilmenites reported by Dr Felix Kaminsky and co-workers from 2001 to 2009 as inclusions in diamonds and from diamondiferous kimberlites in the Juina area, of Mato Grosso, Brazil.

Those ilmenites were reportedly derived from the lower mantle of the earth and are important diamond indicator minerals, the company said.

The Juina area had economical kimberlites containing type IIa pink diamonds, as reported by explorer Diagem in 2007 and 2008.

Pangolin also said enzyme-leach trace element results from the ilmenites, identified by an independent analysis of material sent to Activation Laboratories, in Ancaster, Ontario, were consistent with orientation trace element results over known diamondiferous kimberlites in the Jwaneng kimberlite field.

The company added that multiple diamond-inclusion type Mn-ilmenites were also recovered from soil samples collected in a different part of the project area.

Exploration work is currently in progress on site, with the team excavating trenches to delineate the surface area. The team would dig at least three exploration pits to a minimum depth of 5 m and process at least 100 t of material through Pangolin's dense media separation plant.

The concentrate would then be sent to an independent laboratory for the possible recovery of macro-diamonds. Sampling would be conducted to locate the source of the Mn-ilmenites recovered from stream sediment soil samples.

Mmadinare is one of the four project areas in Botswana for which Pangolin has exploration licences. Pangolin in May discovered kimberlite within its 1 545 km² Tsabong North project, heralding the firm’s graduation from being an explorer to being a discoverer.