https://www.miningweekly.com
Africa|Botswana|Business|Diamonds|Exploration|Pipes|PROJECT|Drilling
Africa|Botswana|Business|Diamonds|Exploration|Pipes|PROJECT|Drilling
africa|botswana|business|diamonds|exploration|pipes|project|drilling

Junior makes diamond discovery

CORE SITE The goal in this exploration by Botswana Diamonds is to firm up the geological model of both sites, with further work based on the results of the core drilling

JAMES CAMPBELL We started with a large number of properties – Frischgewaagt, Doornrivier and Hartbeesfontein – and after large-scale work on these areas, detailed work was done on more specific targets

21st May 2021

By: Anna Moross

Writer

     

Font size: - +

Diamond exploration and development company Botswana Diamonds has “moved the dial” in its exploration of the Frischgewaagt area, in Limpopo, where it has extended its search for kimberlite pipes or blows, says Botswana Diamonds CEO James Campbell.

Botswana Diamonds is exploring and discovering kimberlite blows in the areas surrounding Klipspringer and, Marsfontein. Campbell explains that a percussion drilling campaign has taken place on Frischgewaagt and, if these results are positive, then targeting a core drilling campaign on both sites will be the next step.

By arranging the work in the form of campaigns targeting certain areas, the company has found potential swells in the kimberlite dyke complex between the farms Doornrivier and Klipspringer which spans about 20 km of total kimberlite strike.

Botswana Diamonds has found that the kimberlite dyke complex is remarkably consistent in terms of grade and diamond value, adds Campbell.

The goal is to firm up the geological model of both sites, with further work based on the results of the core drilling.

While this project started in 2011 under the current company, it is only now approaching the resource definition phase.

“We have spent R15-million so far – audited as of the end of our tax year last year – so it’s probably sitting at about R17-million to date. Exploration is not a cheap business and that’s why we have intense and precisely targeted campaigns on the different areas,” adds Campbell.

Further, extensive ground geophysical work, including magnetics, EM, Max/Min and gravity has been completed to date.

“We started with a large number of properties – Frischgewaagt, Doornrivier and Hartbeesfontein – and after large-scale work on these areas, detailed work was done on more specific targets. This allowed for the focus to be narrowed down to one particular area on the farm Frischgewaagt.”

In explaining the new approaches they take in their exploration on this project, Campbell notes that the precision work has been done differently from past exploration work. A very detailed analysis has been used, “as we’ve been using 1 m stations, compared with maybe 10 m stations, because we need to have that level of precision”, he adds.

Botswana Diamonds has also been piloting a new way of work, which is being developed and focuses on the confluence of detailed geophysical results and detailed structural geological mapping by UK group Subterrane. This work has, however, been stalled, owing to Covid-19, but should start again soon.

“We want to come back to South Africa and finish this work as soon as Covid-19 allows, and then I’m sure we’ll be able to generate some new targets,” Campbell declares.

He adds that using the combination of detailed structural geology and geophysics is often ignored because it requires intense and detailed fieldwork with detailed measurements and painstaking precision.

The next process is assessing the potential of diamond discovery in the swells and blows in the kimberlite dyke complex. This is typically done through microprobing kimberlitic garnets. “This entails assessing the calcium chromium plot and from that tiny piece of information, you can tell whether that garnet came from below the diamond stability field or above it.”

If it is the latter, carbon could not exist as diamond; if it is the former, it would exist as diamond at very high temperatures and pressures, he explains.

This assessment has proved to be correct by the company as both micro and macrodiamonds have been found on the property. However, Campbell says that, while the grade of the kimberlite is high, with an average of about 60 cpht across the kimberlite dyke complex, it is too early to make any specific conclusions about these discoveries.

While the diamond values are good, averaging at about $150/t when Klipspringer mine was last mined, this project is all about size, which will be the ultimate trigger for determining this particular project’s value, he notes.

Value and grade are further determinants, and are key variables in determining an inferred resource.

“Typically, you need 500 ct for the deposit to become an inferred resource. We are sitting on 350 ct, so we haven’t reached an inferred resource level yet, but based on the analysis of the second site, we may be getting close,” Campbell concludes.

Edited by Nadine James
Features Deputy Editor

Comments

Showroom

WearCheck
WearCheck

Leading condition monitoring specialists, WearCheck, help boost machinery lifespan and reduce catastrophic component failure through the scientific...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Rentech
Rentech

Rentech provides renewable energy products and services to the local and selected African markets. Supplying inverters, lithium and lead-acid...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.259 0.295s - 117pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now