
Mr. John Teeling
Botswana Diamonds (BOD) has reported a loss on its recent results owing to the ongoing exploration in the Orapa area as the company aims to discover another mine in the area.
The AIM listed exploration outfit said funds raised in 2013 and 2014 funded all of the exploration to date with cash remaining to cover some if not all of next year’s programme, according to preliminary
results for the year ended 30 June 2014 published on Monday.
The results showed the company registered an operation loss of slightly above £ 1 million from the £ 477,908 reported in the same period in 2013. The loss went down to £ 948,610 after tax compared to £ 498,166 on the prior year.
BOD said the total comprehensive loss for the year stands at £1,025,403 worse than £ 518,245 in 2013. The company Chairman, John Teeling said the coming year will be an important test of the
Alrosa/BOD strategy. During 2014, a BOD/Alrosa team conducted two extensive fieldwork
programmes and a 4 hole drilling programme on Block 117 in the Orapa region. The drilling programme was an excellent test of the Alrosa
technology.
Two of the four holes intersected kimberlite veins, two found basalt. A reasonable but not great result. Further work is being carried out on the drilling results but we are unlikely to drill further on that
licence as the targets look small.
“The work done to date and the extensive analyses being conducted by Alrosa will identify targets which we will drill to test if they are diamondiferous kimberlites,” Teeling said in a statement
accompanying the results.
“The programme is not yet agreed but I will be surprised if it does not include a double digit number of drill holes. Our joint venture with Alrosa is a 50/50 heads up which means we pay our share”. He said focus has now turned to the 5 licence block PL206 to PL210 covering 1,357 sq km of highly prospective ground. These
licences were identified as prospective by Alrosa almost two years ago.
Botswana Diamonds applied in 2013 and waited a year for the award. A number of Category 1 targets are contained on this ground. A major fieldwork programme was carried out in September/October this year by a team of 8 Russian geologists supported by BOD geological
team.
The Alrosa team had test equipment with them which greatly facilitated, expedited and directed their soil sampling and geophysical analysis. Substantial quantities of concentrated soil samples are now being analysed in St. Petersburg. Early
evidence suggests that the technical analysis is identifying good drilling opportunities. Alrosa will identify a series of targets on the blocks.
“We will agree a budget for 2015 which will include, drilling and more fieldwork to better pinpoint drilling locations.”
“We have a very strong and experienced team in BOD. We, as principals, tasted success in Botswana in the 2000s and have partnered with Alrosa, the biggest diamond producer and the most
successful discoverer of diamonds. Our joint team has been working together for two years. 2013 was spent gathering data in Botswana, sending it to
St. Petersburg where proprietary analytical techniques were used to select targets in the Orapa area,” added Teeling.
Last year an announcement was made where Atlas Minerals (Pty) Ltd (Botswana), a wholly owned subsidiary of Botswana Diamonds, and by
Sunland Holdings SA (Switzerland) a wholly owned subsidiary of OJSC “Alrosa” of Russia teamed up to explore the Orapa area.