Admission to AIM

RNS Number : 4963A

Botswana Diamonds PLC

02 February 2011

 

Botswana Diamonds PLC - Admitted to trading on AIM

·     Focused on advanced stage projects in Botswana

·     Led by experienced management team who discovered AK6 diamond mine in Botswana

·     Exploration opportunities in Zimbabwe and Cameroon

·     $2m in cash to fund exploration through 2011

·     Recovering diamond demand, and prices, expected to continue to be driven by China and India

The directors of Botswana Diamonds (AIM:BOD) are pleased to announce the admission of Botswana Diamonds (BOD) shares to trading on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).  Botswana Diamonds emerged from the Lucara Diamonds takeover of African Diamonds (AFD).  Lucara only wanted the AK6 diamond discovery so the final deal was that for every AFD share, shareholders received 0.8 of a Lucara share and one new BOD share.

BOD is focused on Botswana where the company holds three exploration licences.  These licences have known kimberlites containing diamonds.

AK8 and AK9 are between the Orapa and Letlhakane mines and are less that 10km from the AK6 mine expected to commence production in Q4 of this year.  BK5 is 5km from Damtshaa.

PL7/2004 is a prospecting licence in the east of the Orapa region.  It is planned to follow opportunities in Zimbabwe and Cameroon. 

The board running BOD is widely experienced in African mining and is responsible for the creation, development and sale of African Diamonds.  They have been joined by Andre Fourie, who has 19 years of experience with Anglo American and DeBeers.

John Teeling, Chairman, commented:

"Botswana is the best diamond address in the world.  BOD holds good ground where exploration and drilling has already discovered kimberlites containing diamonds.  As we have held these licences for a considerable amount of time, we are exploring options such as bulk sampling AK8/AK9 and core drilling BK5.  We see excellent potential, though early stage, in licence PL7/2004 in the east of the Orapa region.  A sampling and drilling programme is planned for this year.

The contacts and experience of the board will also be leveraged to examine opportunities in the emerging diamond markets of Zimbabwe and Cameroon.

 I am delighted to welcome Andre Fourie as Technical Director.  He has a wealth of diamond experience.  He will manage the exploration programmes.  This is a very good time to be in resources.  Diamond demand is rising as are prices.  Diamonds are hard to find.  We have the team, the expertise and the ground."

This release has been approved by Andre Fourie, Hons BSc (Geology), who is a registered professional geologist with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions.  Mr Fourie is the Technical Director of Botswana Diamonds and has over 13 years of experience in diamond exploration and mineral resource management.

Botswana Diamonds PLC

John Teeling, Chairman                                                                [phone]

Andre Fourie                                                                                     [phone]

finnCap - Nominated Adviser & Broker

Matthew Robinson                                                                         [phone]

Henrik Persson

College Hill                                                                       

Nick Elwes                                                                                          [phone]

www.botswanadiamonds.co.uk

 

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