Core drilling started this month at TSX-listed explorer Peregrine Diamonds’ 100%-owned Sikwane project, in Botswana.
Peregrine’s primary assets in Botswana include 11 diamond prospecting licences that cover 6 613 km2. In expanding its land position in Botswana, Peregrine has acquired a new prospecting licence, which includes the diamond-bearing Sikwane kimberlites.
In April, Peregrine reported that the 2016 work programme would focus on the core drilling of the Sikwane kimberlites and target verification in the Mmashoro and Sikwane project areas.
Sikwane is located about 50 km east of Gaborone, with the Sikwane prospecting licence covering 453 km2 and comprising nine kimberlites. These kimberlites were discovered through drilling by diamond major De Beers in 1997.
A thorough assessment of relinquishment reports, held at the Botswana Geological Survey, shows that De Beers drilled percussion holes targeted at detailed kimberlite indicator mineral (KIM) anomalies with limited ground geophysics support, the company reports.
“Interpretation of available KIM garnet and ilmenite chemistry shows that the Sikwane kimberlites contain diamond-compatible KIMs and the kimberlites have moderate to high diamond potential,” the company notes.
Diamonds have been recovered from surface samples and from down-hole samples at the Sikwane kimberlites, although diamond abundance and size distribution data are not available. De Beers recovered limited core from the drilling programme and, as a result of the limitations of percussion drilling, the geological relationships between kimberlite and country rock granite are unresolved.