Junior miner Botswana Diamonds, which recently announced that Alrosa had withdrawn from a JV the two had formed for diamond exploration in Botswana, has reported a substantial increase in losses for the year ended June 30, 2018, from £ 310,898 in FY 2017 to £ 556,407 in FY 2018.

The Company said that this was largely due to a one-time impairment charge of £ 179,524 booked during the year due to relinquishment of some licences held by its subsidiary Sunland Minerals (formerly a JV with Alrosa) for exploration in Botswana.

Performance of the company was also affected by problems at the Maibwe project, also in Botswana, where the main shareholder, BCL is under liquidation.

Moreover, Chairman John Teeling pointed out that the company’s projects have failed to attract investors as the junior exploration sector as a whole is out of favour with them. Share prices of most companies in this sector are languishing at or near the bottom of their price range, making funding difficult, expensive and dilutive, he said.

Nevertheless, there was progress during the year on a number of fronts, with the most significant being at the Thorny River in South Africa where drilling extended the diamond bearing dyke. The Company has decided to contract out the development of this project and said that if approvals can be finalised royalty revenue should begin to flow.

Similarly, it also revealed that discussions with a diamond producer to take a 50% stake in Sunland Minerals are at an advanced stage. The potential partner has an experienced diamond exploration team in place.

Botswana Diamonds is also bullish about its new joint venture with Vast Resources Plc on a block in the Marange Diamond fields in Zimbabwe, which, it believes, has good potential.

Having worked on the discovery and development of the Karowe mine in Botswana - one of the world's highest per carat value mines, the company believes that the very high risk in exploration can be reduced by country selection, ground selection and the application of not only the latest exploration technology but also the knowledge, experience and "savvy" of its prospectors, technicians and management.