Botswana Diamonds chairperson John Teeling on Thursday said the company was looking forward to working with fellow Aim-listed company Vast Resources on realising the full potential of the Heritage diamond concession area and other areas in Zimbabwe.
This followed Wednesday’s announcement by Vast that it had entered into an agreement with Red Mercury, giving Vast exclusive access to the 15 km2 Heritage concession. Under the terms of the agreement, Vast will carry out a due diligence on the concession, with a view to concluding a joint venture agreement, the principal terms of which have been agreed, for exploration, mining and marketing.
The concession is close to an area of Vast’s historic claim in the Marange diamond fields and is understood to be an extension of the same geological system.
Vast and Botswana Diamonds, meanwhile, earlier this year signed a memorandum of understanding for the exchange of information from past exploration on areas prospective for diamonds in Zimbabwe.
The parties, at the time, also agreed to establish a jointly owned special-purpose vehicle for developing and exploiting diamond resources in Zimbabwe.
In 2008, Vast acquired a database relating to diamonds in Zimbabwe and had, until 2010, carried out its own exploration in the field using information from the database.