Botswana Diamonds Secures Exploration Licence In Cameroon
Yaounde, Cameroon Africa. (cameroon News) - Botswana Diamonds: Cameroon Government gives License to Botswana Diamonds for exploration of diamonds in its eastern region.
The new license will span across an area of 8,087 square kilometre located in the eastern part of Cameroon Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) has been able to successfully obtain a new exploration license in Cameroon, close to an ‘intriguing’ diamond discovery.
The new license would pertain to exploration permission granted for an area of 8,087 square kilometre area in the eastern part of Cameroon. The company holds an 85 percent stake in the project, together with some local partners who hold the remaining stakes.
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The preliminary reconnaissance stage of the license is for a time frame of one year following which the partners secure an automatic right to extend it for one more year.
Following the extra year the company would need to reapply for exploration licenses for a single year or more than one year, spanning for areas up to 1,000 square kilometres each.
“This is an exciting opportunity and gives us early mover advantage in what is an emerging diamond province,” chairman John Teeling said.
The license is in close proximity to the Mobilong license area, where a company based out of Korea had reported earlier of a major diamond discovery.
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Botswana Diamonds has announced that it forecasts the presence of a one million carat a year mine which it expects to start off at Mobilong by 2012.
“The Mobilong discovery being developed by a Korean company is intriguing the industry,” Teeling added.
“Little information is available and the value per carat is unknown. Few have seen the diamonds but the deposit appears to be a big ancient alluvial paleo placer.”
During the course of the initial stages prospecting will employ the application of detailed satellite imagery as well as an appraisal of current information to determine the extent and distribution of diamond bearing host rock. The company will then tour the site to locate prospecting targets.
It revealed that the exploration would be more or less centered on finding out the 1,000 square kilometres of ground that offers the most promising prospects, which would be then held back to convert into a three year exploration licence.
“Our licence area is very big, 8,087 square kilometres. Over the coming year, we will work to reduce this to 1,000 square kilometres by identifying specific areas likely to contain diamonds,” Teeling said.
Botswana Diamonds plc is a diamond exploration and project development company that has been able to secure exploration licenses in Botswana, early-stage diamond license applications in certain locations of Zimbabwe and Cameroon.
Other than the aforesaid projects, the company is also expressing interest in securing exploration licenses in the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as a minority interest in Stellar Diamonds plc.
The company’s strategy is to have ‘a pipeline of projects in southern and central Africa stretching from early stage diamond exploration to existing late stage development with production to follow, if justified’.
The present concentration is on the late stage Botswana licenses where a feasibility research undertaken in the recent past have keyed in on possible production opportunities.
Moving out of the borders of Botswana the company is also on the lookout for suitable prospects in Cameroon and Zimbabwe and has already been able to secure exploration licenses in both countries.
They are targeting diamond mines in both the countries and have reported successful test in Cameroon.
The company has been able to secure three exploration licenses in Botswana which have stemmed from its full stake in Atlas.
If it is able to make successful discoveries in Cameroon it could be moving into bigger leagues in the diamond mining business.
