Diamond exploration company Botswana Diamonds has recovered 11 diamonds and abundant kimberlitic indicators from drill samples at the recently discovered River Kimberlite pipe at Thorny River in South Africa’s Limpopo province.
Following a detailed ground geophysical programme in October 2020, six-inch percussion reverse circulation holes were drilled into the newly discovered River Kimberlite pipe during November 2020.
A combined 39.5 m intersected kimberlite, while an additional 55 m intersected a weathered kimberlite breccia.
Samples from these holes were taken at 1 m intervals and 20 of these, totalling about 500 kg, were selected and submitted to an independent processing facility for assessment through screening, dense media separation and hand sorting.
Eleven diamonds, 172 G10 pyrope garnets, 623 G9 pyrope garnets, 555 eclogitic garnets, 438 chromites and 268 chromium diopsides (clinopyroxene) were recovered.
Importantly, all the samples contain abundant kimberlitic indicators, Botswana Diamonds notes.
The diamonds are all notably of good colour and clarity and are of commercial quality and in high demand by the market, it posits.
The diamonds were not weighed as the sample size was small and they were not representative of a possible population.
The next step is a detailed core drilling programme which is planned for the dry season.
“The recovery of so many kimberlitic indicators and in particular diamonds, which are very rare to recover in small sample narrow reverse circulation drill holes is highly encouraging and bodes well for the potential commerciality of this exciting discovery,” says chairperson John Teeling.