TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Shares of TSX-V-listed Pangolin Diamonds on Wednesday closed up 10.42% after it announced that it had intersected 59 m of kimberlite at its Magi kimberlite pipe at the Tsabong North project, in Botswana.

The Botswana-focused explorer said it had core-drilled a new hole, the Magi-04, which had intersected kimberlite from 35 m below the surface to 94 m.

The Magi, discovered earlier this year and found to be one of the largest kimberlites in the world, was modelled at 270 ha. Pangolin on Wednesday said the kimberlite had now been confirmed over a distance of 1 200 m in an east-west direction and 400 m to the north.

The average depth of intersection of the crater facies sediments was about 35 m, and the company intercepted sandy tuffs on average between 55.3 m and 61.5 m below surface.

Further work will continue. Six additional holes had been laid out for core drilling to confirm the modelled size of the Magi kimberlite. These core holes would also be used towards modelling the complex geology of the crater sediments and kimberlitic sandy tuffs in preparation for future possible larger-diameter drilling.

One hole would be drilled to intersect kimberlite at a minimum depth of 250 m.

Pangolin also said that detailed logging of the core indicated that the Magi kimberlite was of syn-Karoo age. This made it older than the Cretaceous diamondiferous kimberlites of the Tsabong kimberlite field further to the south, dated at 78-million years, but potentially similar in age to the Jwaneng kimberlites, dated at 245-million years.

Core samples from all the holes were being submitted to independent laboratories to recover any indicator minerals, and any diamonds.

"The Magi-04 drill hole result is consistent with the geophysical model for the kimberlite. Geological modelling of the kimberlite will continue well into 2014,” Pangolin chairperson Dr Leon Daniels said.

The company has four exploration properties in Botswana, which is the world’s largest producer of diamonds by value.

The company’s stock rose to C$0.265 apiece on Wednesday.