Aim- and Botswana Stock Exchange-listed diamond explorer Botswana Diamonds, last month announced the preliminary results of the next phase of its drilling campaign on the Marsfontein project.
“The objective of this limited exercise was to test an historical anomaly identified as M17 to see if it had the potential to be a blow (or enlargement) on the M8 kimberlite dyke.”
Two down-the-hole hammer percussion holes were drilled at depths of 67 m and 61 m. Four metres of kimberlite were intersected from 54 m to 58 m in Hole ID M17H001 which is one of the thickest intersections of kimberlite discovered in the Marsfontein-Thorny River project area, aside from the Marsfontein M1 pipe, and therefore warrants detailed ground geophysics to accurately position further drill holes to delineate the kimberlite blow.
No kimberlite was identified in Hole ID M17H002.
The kimberlite cluster of Thorny River-Marsfontein-Klipspringer Mine has proved consistent in terms of its high-grade and diamond assortment which contains a relative abundance of coloured stones. Aside from the Klipspringer (kimberlite dyke) mine, the most economically viable zones have been the blows, being the Sugarbird, Kudu and the Marsfontein mine. The current exploration programme is to discover more blows at Marsfontein.
Detailed ground geophysics, particularly ground electromagnetics which have been successfully used on Thorny River, are already in the advanced planning stage to continue the next phase of drilling on the kimberlite blow.
This programme will also extend to other potential kimberlite blows in the project area. These activities are planned for the current quarter.