Botswana Diamonds Share Discussion Threads

[ruthie] 06/4/2016 11:14

Brightstone (now Maibwe) was the original company holding 13 licences in the Gope area.

BCL, a wholly state owned copper/nickel company took over the block and now hold 51% with a local company holding 20% and Siseko holding 29%. Siseko is 51% owned by BOD.

BCL renewed the licences and changed the name to Maibwe. They drilled on licence PL 186 last year and are supposed to be drilling again around now.

[dmelon] 06/4/2016 09:53

I think it's credible.

[chapchip] 06/4/2016 09:10

wonder if the rumour is anything that will prove creditable.......and how it might affect BOD...and more specifically its share price!!!

[euclid] 05/4/2016 16:49

The rumour is that BCL have found something....so I guess if Alrosa want a slice it tends to support that?

[euclid] 05/4/2016 16:47

OK here's the explanation.

Siseko Minerals owns Brightstone Mining Pty


BOD owns 51% of Siseko.
(BOD 2015 annual report)

..and...

"BOD holds an interest in a licence block consisting of 13 licences, originally called Brightstone, now Maibwe, in the Gope area. Teeling notes that in 2015 the block was farmed out to Botswana State-owned copper/nickel miner BCL, which has diversified into diamonds. BCL explored the block in 2015. BOD has 15% carried interest in Maibwe, through its agreement with private South African company Siseko Minerals, which holds 29% of the block. BCL holds 51% of the block, is the operator responsible for production and exploration and will carry all costs up to the bankable feasibility study."

[tomatoma2] 05/4/2016 16:12

The global diamond market will be back in sync in the next 18 to 24 months, diamond consultant Dr John Bristow forecasts.The developer of two successful alluvial diamond companies – Gem Diamonds in 1998 and Rockwell Diamonds in 2006 – commended De Beers and Debswana for opting to leave diamonds in the ground and Russia's Alrosa for building inventories to prevent an oversupply of rough diamonds.The mid-market, with access to very cheap credit, had been buying more rough diamonds.The global financial crisis of 2008/9 had also led to a recycling of diamonds, which McKinsey calculated was likely to represent 30% of supply by 2025.In a presentation at this month's Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada conference entitled 'The future of the international diamond business: change and consolidation', Bristow outlined how mine closures and the absence of new mines were reducing supply growth.From the conference, he spent time in the heart of New York's famed 5th Avenue and 47th Street diamond district, where he found the business to be "very quiet", particularly in white stones.He noted a prevalence of coloured gemstones, which he identified as another seeming shift of which the industry should take note.'WONDERFUL' BOTSWANA INFRASTRUCTUREWhile the going was currently tough, a long-term view was being maintained in neighbouring Botswana, where "wonderful" diamond infrastructure had been built on the edge of Gaborone to coincide with the Diamond Trading Centre moving "lock, stock and barrel" from London to Botswana."They're going to tough it out" and be ready to take advantage of any upturn.Since 2000, producers and market specialists had predicted that demand for diamonds would outstrip supply, said Bristow.It was cheap bank credit for those along the supply chain that drove up the price of rough diamonds at a time when strong expected demand growth in Chinese jewellery failed to materialise

[tomatoma2] 05/4/2016 16:10

BCL Brightstone is a State owned copper/nickel miner

[euclid] 05/4/2016 15:51

...and maybe Atlas Minerals for all I know. lol

[euclid] 05/4/2016 15:49

I'm struggling to figure out whether Brightstone is just the name of a prospecting block or a company or both.

If someone can clarify the situation I think we would all be thankful.

Any explanation should ideally make mention of the entities BOD, Alrosa, BCL, Brighstone, Gope, Sunland and Siseko Minerals.

[tomatoma2] 05/4/2016 15:41

Brightstone = BCL

[euclid] 05/4/2016 15:29

...or does Brightstone = BCL?

[euclid] 05/4/2016 15:29

Last we heard, BOD and Alrosa were talking to BCL about possible co-operation.

[ein] 05/4/2016 15:00

I believe Brightstone would like the Russians to farm in with them ?

[euclid] 05/4/2016 14:13

There's already a JV. How much more interested can they get?

[ein] 05/4/2016 11:41

I believe the Russians may be interested in getting more involved with Botswanas partner, good sign? Drilling starts around middle of April. Could get a great run?

[chapchip] 05/4/2016 09:15

yes true Elm.....I d like nothing more as I sit on around 250k of these..........

but been around long enough to know the market will not have the wool pulled

[elmfield] 04/4/2016 17:50

But that could open up opportunities.

[chapchip] 04/4/2016 17:39

yes they will be sceptical...........it envelopes anything JT does

[tomatoma2] 04/4/2016 16:16

Botswana Diamonds PLC walks with Russian giant in Orapa.Drilling is about to restart on Botswana Diamonds' exploration ground near Orapa. Orapa is one of the most diamond-rich areas in the world.What's the latest with Botswana Diamonds PLC (LON:BOD)?One answer is that since the bottom fell out of the mining equity markets a couple of years ago, this is a company that's now largely being kept alive through the good offices of the friends and family of the company's Irish chairman John Teeling.But Teeling's a veteran of the resources space - his first marketing trip around the City of London was back in 1972 when he attempted to convince a sceptical investment community of the long-term viability of the Tara Mines in County Meath.More than 40 years later, and the sceptics are gone, but Tara mines is still going, ranking, according to its current owner Boliden, as Europe's largest zinc mine and the world's ninth largest.Not quite on the same scale, but with similar foresight, Teeling more recently marketed the AK6 kimberlite pipe in Botswana through a London-listed vehicle called African Diamonds.This too met with scepticism on occasion, and Teeling found himself battling to get the story over more than once. That AK6 is now a prized producing asset inside Lukas Lundin's Lucara Diamonds (CSE:LUC) is a vindication for Teeling of a sort, although he remains rueful that more financial support wasn't forthcoming from the City when he needed it.So, he used to going it alone. And that's what he's doing with Botswana Diamonds, the company that took on the Botswana exploration portfolio of African Diamonds once Lundin had moved in.Some viewed the Botswana portfolio as mere flotsam and jetsam, the leftovers in Botswana's prolific Orapa district. Not so Alrosa (MCX:ALNU), by some metrics the world's largest diamond company.Hard for Alrosa to get a meaningful toehold in Botswana which is traditionally the backyard of another of the world's largest diamond companies, De Beers - to the point where De Beers' joint venture with the Botswana government is one of the mainstays of the national economy.Even so, worth a shot, and so when it emerged that it might be possible for Alrosa to get sight of the Botswana Diamonds exploration database, which is probably worth several tens of millions of dollars and more to the point represents a good accumulated store of knowledge, they jumped at it.Working with Alrosa has its pros and cons. Technically, Alrosa is excellent, says Teeling. On the other hand, as with any state behemoth, it can be horribly slow.Nevertheless, as the 2016 field season opens things are moving once again."A Russian team is going to drill our PL260 license," says Teeling."It's very close to the Lucara ground. We got it last October and they immediately put their team on it. It's got three kimberlites on it that De Beers discovered, all with grade, but very low grade. Their model is that the grade will improve at depth. We are targeting a Lucara lookalike."Lots to play for, then, and lots to pay for too. For now though, the Teeling machine looks up to the challenge. The overall programme looks likely to cost US$800,000, split evenly between Alrosa and Botswana Diamonds. Later in the year there's likely to be another cash call, and as yet Botswana hasn't got that one covered. But Teeling's confident that he will.And in the meantime, rumours are swirling about developments on another project in which Botswana Diamonds has an interest, a parcel of land in the Gope district held in joint venture with a private South African company called Brightstone, via a stake in a Botswana company called Siseko.Talk is that Brightstone has found kimberlites on the Gope ground, which is not necessarily a surprise – kimberlites have been discovered there before, but hitherto they had been thought to be barren.No longer. Now the talk is that they could in fact be very rich, and Brighstone is scrabbling around for cash to do delineation drilling and a bulk sample. It's already farmed out part of its own interest to larger Botswana company BCL, but BCL is mainly into copper and, word has it, is "looking for proposals."So what happens now?Botswana Diamonds is in an enviable position. It's 15% is held via a 51% stake in Siseko, which owns 29% in the Gope ground and is free carried through to feasibility. That means there'll be no cash call on Botswana in the immediate term, but the possibility of a serious value uplift nonetheless.But will Teeling move on this ground and look to consolidate a further interest? Or will BCL bring someone else in instead. Botswana Diamonds has a pre-emption right and it has a strong partner in Alrosa.Could this be the next big Teeling play? And if so, will anyone dare to be sceptical this time round? Alastair Ford

[tomatoma2] 01/4/2016 15:35

Bloomberg:De Beers's project to expand the world's most valuable diamond mine has encountered its first gem-bearing ore, seven years after it started.Jwaneng's Cut 8 encounters gem-bearing ore in southern areaDe Beers, Botswana project is country's biggest investmentDe Beers's project to expand the world's most valuable diamond mine has encountered its first gem-bearing ore, seven years after it started.The 24 billion-pula ($2.2 billion) plan to enlarge the Jwaneng operation in Botswana will eventually access an estimated 110 million carats through an area known as Cut 8, General Manager Albert Milton said in an interview at the mine, 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the capital, Gaborone.Debswana Diamond Co., a joint venture between the Anglo American Plc unit and the nation's government, started the extension at Jwaneng in 2010, the largest single investment in the southern African country. Cut 8 will become the mine's main source of the gems in 2018, Anglo said in July last year. Miners have moved about 344 million metric tons of the 500 million tons of rock and soil needed to access the diamond-bearing ore known as kimberlite and have already found some, Milton said."We are encountering ore in the south already," Milton said. "We are not far from reaching ore in the north, and in the next couple of weeks we should be encountering it there too. We will continue exposing limited amounts throughout 2016 and 2017, but by 2018 we will be fully in the ore."

[ruthie] 24/3/2016 15:31

Botswana Diamonds PLC (“Botswana Diamonds” or the “the Company”)

Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 31 December 2015

Botswana Diamonds plc (AIM: BOD) ("Botswana Diamonds" or "the Company") today announces financial results for the six months ended 31 December 2015.

Statement Accompanying the Interim Results

As I write this statement Botswana Diamonds is conducting an extensive exploration programme in Botswana. With our partners, Alrosa, we are drilling, sampling and conducting geophysics on two licences in the Orapa area, PL 210 and PL 260.

On PL 260, a new 25 sq km licence, between the Orapa and Karowe Diamond Mines, we have an intensive programme which will culminate with two or three large diameter bore holes each 300 metres deep. PL260 contains 3 known kimberlites AK21, AK24 and AK23 each containing diamonds but not at commercial levels. We, with Alrosa, have evaluated and re-analysed available data. A re-interpretation suggests that sand and basalt cover in the top 100-150 metres could have diluted the actual grade in the kimberlite.

Ongoing sampling and geophysics will be followed by diamond drilling in early April and subsequent reverse circulation large diameter drilling in order to take a bulk sample on kimberlite AK 21 which we believe has significant diamond potential. The bulk sampling, about 90 tonnes, will be treated in a leased sampling plant in Botswana. Results will be available by mid-2016.

In 2015 we drilled PL 210 in Orapa. We found serpentines which have similar geophysical signatures to kimberlites. Earlier work had found large quantities of Kimberlitic Indicator Minerals (KIMs). Analyses suggest that, due to their sharp angled shape, the KIMs have not travelled far so the kimberlite source may well be on the licence. The further KIMs travel the rounder the shapes become. The hunt for diamondiferous kimberlites on PL 210 will begin again in April with two or three diamond holes being drilled.

A new and very exciting diamond province is emerging in the Gope Region, about 300 km west of Orapa in the Kalahari Desert. BOD is very active in the area. Our Alrosa/BOD joint venture holds 7 licences while we have a net 15% carried interest through Bankable Feasibility Study in the Maibwe joint venture on 10 blocks. Maibwe is 51% controlled by BCL, a state owned copper/nickel miner, 20% by a private Botswana Company and 29% by Siseko, a South African company. BOD owns 51% of Siseko. Maibwe drilled one of the blocks in 2015 and discovered 5 kimberlites. A follow-up drilling programme is planned in the second quarter of 2016. BOD and Alrosa are talking to BCL about possible co-operation.
Work by BOD/Alrosa in 2015 on three small licences in Gope confirmed the presence of anomalies. Following the completion of sampling and geophysics on the Orapa ground the team will move to these licences.

We obtained new ground north east of the GEM owned Ghagoo Mine in Gope. We will begin prospecting work on this ground in May.

Overall an active exploration programme.

But what about the depressed market for diamonds and the total lack of investor interest in exploration companies, including those looking for diamonds? Diamonds are a luxury product and will always appeal to jewellers and their customers in Europe, North and South America, Asia and throughout Africa. Outside of Europe and the United States the market is still emerging. As per capita incomes increases around the world, billions of people will enter the so called “Middle Class”. They will want the products associated with being a member of this social category. All long term forecasts for diamond demand show a rising curve while supply is at best flat due to mine depletions. The current price volatility is caused by a number of factors including credit tightening on brokers and agents who buy rough stones often to speculate on price rises. Certainly the economic slowdown in most Asian markets is causing a blip on the rising demand curve particularly for gemstone quality stones. But this will be a temporary phase. The rise in the middle classes in many huge markets cannot be stopped, only delayed. When growth resumes so too will demand.

I wish I could write the same story about investment sentiment towards exploration. Prices and investor interest are in the doldrums and have been for several years. There is a well-known investor cycle in exploration shares. What is harder to predict is how long we will be at or near to the bottom of the cycle. For some time share prices, having declined for years have bumped along the bottom. Signs of recovery have been called a few times but they were false. Exploration shares are by their nature high risk. Investors accept the risk in the hope and expectation of significant returns with exploration success and that is what happens. When there is a bear market on the exchange speculative money disappears. There are no buyers. Sellers usually avoid selling for as long as possible but circumstances can force sales. With no buyers, price falls can be precipitative. If the bear market lasts for a long time prices can fall away to virtually nothing. Since 2010 AIM listed exploration shares have been in a severe bear market which has been exacerbated by declines in the commodity super cycle due to slowdowns in the Asian markets.

The net effect of these trends is that there is very little fresh capital available for explorers. That which can be obtained is at highly dilutive share prices. In recent years Botswana Diamonds has raised new capital to meet their commitments in Botswana. Most recently in late 2015 over £500,000 was raised. The source of this money has been mainly Directors, family and friends.

We are serious explorers in Botswana. Our partnership with Alrosa is working well. The current programme is the fourth in the field. Each session improves the understanding of the geology of the Kalahari. It is not an easy environment with wild fluctuations in temperature of maybe 50 degrees between noon and midnight, remoteness, particularly in the Gope Region and the overwhelming presence of sand and basalt covers. Our partner remains convinced that their technology and expertise can see through the overburden to discover what is below. Drill holes are the only real way of discovering this. With three separate drill programmes in the coming weeks we have high hopes of positive news.


John Teeling
Chairman

23rd March 2016

[dmelon] 23/3/2016 17:16

Thank you.

[ruthie] 23/3/2016 09:17

Botswana Diamonds PLC
(“Botswana Diamonds” or the “Company”;)

Exploration Begins in Orapa



Highlights
• Sampling started on March 21st on two licences in Orapa. Mineralogists plan to arrive on site on March 28th to analyse the samples;
• Geophysics expected to begin March 28th ;
• Diamond drilling expected to commence on Kimberlite AK21 on PL 260 the first week of April, to be followed by reverse circulation wide diameter drilling; and
• Verification drilling to run concurrently on PL 210.

The Directors of Botswana Diamonds (AIM: BOD) are pleased to announce the start of an active programme of exploration in Botswana, first on licences in the Orapa area then in the Gope area.

The exploration programme is being led by a team from Alrosa, our 50/50 joint venture partner, supported by an experienced BOD team.

Geologists have begun sampling on PLs 260 and 210. PL 260 covers an area of 25 sq km between the Karowe and Orapa diamonds mines. It contains 3 kimberlites AK21, AK22 and AK23, known to contain diamonds. Alrosa and BOD have evaluated existing data and agreed that significant potential exists on the block. A soil sampling geophysics, diamond drilling and reverse circulation wide diameter drill programme is ongoing and will continue on the block until the end of April. The two/three wide diameter holes have a target depth of 300 metres. A 90 tonne bulk sample will be analysed in a bulk sampling plant in Botswana.

A second team is deployed to PL 210 where two holes were drilled in 2015. Targeted geophysics and soil sampling are designed to select drill sites for diamond drilling, which will commence in early April. There are extensive Kimberlitic Indicator Minerals (KIMs) on PL 210 and we hope that the new drilling programme will identify the source.

On the completion of sampling and geophysics on PLs 210 and 260 the teams will move to the Gope Region. Follow up work will be conducted on PLs 135, 136 and 137, where anomalies were confirmed in 2015.

Early stage fieldwork will also start shortly on the new Gope licences obtained in late 2015.

The programme is fully funded.

John Teeling, Chairman, commented “This is an important time for BOD. The exploration programme on two licences in the Orapa area of Botswana has great potential. The new licence, PL 260, already has known kimberlites containing diamonds. We want to test the belief that the grade improves at depth so we are taking a bulk sample to get reliable results. The follow up drilling on PL 210 will build on our 2015 drilling. We have reviewed data which gives us confidence that there are good levels of kimberlitic indicator minerals (KIMs) and hope that this drilling programme will validate this. Based on the angularity of the KIMs, we believe they have not travelled very far.

__________ _ ___________________________________________________________

This release has been approved by Benjamin Mosigi, MSc (Mineral Exploration and Mining Geology), who is a member of the Geological Society of South Africa.
_________ _ ___________________________________________________

Enquiries:
Botswana Diamonds PLC
John Teeling, Chairman [phone]
Jim Finn, Director
Dipti Mehta
Northland Capital Partners Limited
David Hignell/Gerry Beaney (Corporate Finance) [phone]
John Howes (Broking)
Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers Limited
Jason Robertson [phone]
Blytheweigh [phone]
Camilla Horsfall [phone]
PSG Plus
Colm Heatley [phone]
Alan Tyrrell [phone]

www.botswanadiamonds.co.uk

[euclid] 21/3/2016 18:45

Sounds good.