Over 100 macro diamonds recovered
Botswana Diamonds (BOD), announces that the company has concluded the processing of two bulk samples taken from the Marsfontein diamond development project in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The samples comprised 58-tons of fresh high-interest kimberlite and 62-tons of kimberlitic material from one of the residual stockpiles, known as ‘Dump E’.
Accordingly, 87 macro diamonds were recovered from the fresh kimberlite giving a modelled grade of 50cpht.
24 macro diamonds were recovered from Dump E giving a modelled grade of 16cpht. In the row James Campbell, Managing Director commented “This bulk sampling campaign, which was carried out with the company’s royalty mining contractor Eurafrican Diamond Corporation, had two objectives.
The first was to test the grade of the fresh kimberlite and the second was to confirm the grades of one of the mine dumps. Both were achieved, and proof of the fresh kimberlite grade paves the way for further exploration work on Marsfontein to target potential blows.
The kimberlite grade is aligned with those achieved at Klipspringer mine and Thorny River, which are both nearby, indicating the considerable extent of the kimberlite dyke system. Options will be investigated on exploitation of the dumps once the nationwide lock down in South Africa is lifted and a sense of normality returns to diamond markets, post the global Covid-19 pandemic crisis.”
