Image: Mining Technology
Diamond exploration and project development company, Botswana Diamonds, has successfully completed a nine-hole drilling program at its Thorny River diamond prospect in South Africa’s Limpopo province, with results indicating increased resource estimates.
The program was initiated to explore the properties of two kimberlite blows, the River and River Extension, and whether they constitute one contiguous orebody, which would improve resource and commercial prospects for the project.
The nine percussion holes totaling 483m were drilled during the program, with one hole intersecting 19.1m of kimberlite zone, the largest of all three of the company’s drilling programs to date, and another intersecting a thickness of 13.5m. The intersections derived from an extension of Thorny River’s river blow toward the Extension Blow.
Botswana Diamonds has begun drafting a model of the combined blows to estimate the resource potential, with the company considering the potential for mining options.
“This is an excellent set of results. The two blows are, as we hoped, connected – thus increasing the resource,” stated John Teeling, Chairperson for Botswana Diamonds, who added, “the average kimberlite zone intersection was between 1.5m and 5m. The two thickest intersections close to the river Blow are particularly exciting. Given these results, we are now examining commercial mine alternatives.”
The company has also stated that it has identified two additional target areas in close proximity to the current area, with the potential to increase resource prospects.
Energy Capital & Power – Africa’s leading energy event organizer – will host the Africa Energy & Mining 2022 Conference & Exhibition, which will be held in Johannesburg on March 29-31. To learn more about the Africa Energy & Mining series and the post-COVID-19 energy and mining landscape in Africa, please visit www.aem2022.com. For sponsorship or exhibition opportunities, please contact [email protected].
