Botswana Diamonds (BOD ) announced that diamonds have been recovered by the Group from the River Kimberlite extension at Thorny River in the Limpopo province of South Africa. 

The London-listed diamond explorer told investors that ‘four diamonds of good colour and clarity’ as well as abundant kimberlitic indicators, were recovered from drill samples at the recently discovered River Kimberlite Extension at Thorny River in the Limpopo Province. 

In May 2021, a total of 71 metres of kimberlite was intersected in 12 percussion holes in the newly discovered River kimberlite extension, with a further 19 metres of kimberlitic breccia. 

The widest kimberlite down-the-hole intersection was 18m and the drilling programme outlined a significant swell on the kimberlite dyke with a minimum strike length of 75m. 

Botswana Diamonds explained to investors that the River Extension blow is contiguous with the diamondiferous River Blow which was discovered by the company in November 2020.   

Samples from the holes were taken at one metre intervals with twelve of these totalling about 320kg. These were selected and submitted to an independent processing facility for assessment through screening, dense media separation and hand sorting, the Group noted. 

Shares in Botswana Diamonds have increased by over 30% in value since the beginning of 2021. The stock was trading 4.76% higher this morning at 1.1p following the announcement. 

Following this, the Group has now reported that four diamonds of ‘good colour, clarity and of commercial quality’ were recovered along with extensive diamond indicators minerals. ‘Importantly, all the samples contained abundant kimberlitic indicators,’ the Group added. 

Looking ahead, the Company highlighted that a further percussion drilling programme to assess the area between the River and River Extension at the site will begin within a month. 

John Teeling, Chairman of Botswana Diamonds commented: "The recovery of high-quality diamonds and so many diamond indicators is very rare. The diamonds are of good quality. 

“It is unusual to recover diamonds from a small sample of narrow reverse circulation drill holes, so it bodes well for the potential of the Thorny River project. Even more encouraging is that the size of the kimberlite from which the diamonds were recovered, is itself expanding. We will commence drilling the area between the two blows towards the end of August." 

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