JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The government of Botswana has awarded three prospecting licences to Sunland Minerals, the exploration joint venture (JV) company owned by Aim-listed Botswana Diamonds and Russian diamond producer Alrosa.
Botswana Diamonds said on Wednesday that the centrally located licence areas, which cover 46 km2, 48 km2 and 3.3 km2 respectively, were selected specifically to verify and follow up previously identified geophysical anomalies.
One licence contained mineralogical anomalies with kimberlite indicator minerals, namely pyropes, ilmenites and, in particular, chrome diopsides.
“Chrome diopsides, or garnets, are relatively soft and do not travel far from the kimberlite source and it is, therefore, considered worthwhile to conduct follow-up exploration of these indicators on this small licence area,” said the company.
It added that geoscientists would immediately focus on the target areas using small grids to carry out detailed geophysics and to acquire mineral chemistry data with the aim of making rapid decisions regarding potential drilling.