Botswana Diamonds announced that its associate Vutomi (in which it holds a 40% stake) has received permission to sell diamonds recovered during bulk sampling at their Thorny River project. Sale of diamonds will fund further exploration activity, the Company added.

The sale of the 256 carats of rough diamonds (including all recoveries up to June 10) from bulk sampling will enable funding of further development by Vutomi.

The company said that trenching by Botswana Diamonds has identified a 'hotspot' at Thorny River with a thick kimberlite intersection of four metres wide, suggesting a 'kimberlite blow'.  256 carats of rough diamonds have already been recovered from re-commissioning the processing plant. 

The bulk sampling programme will generate short-term cash flow, whilst building the mineral resource.  Project partner, SouthernEra Diamonds, have included their coarse tailings dumps generated from the mining of the Marsfontein and Klipspringer diamond mines into the same revenue sharing agreement. The Thorny River bulk sampling project is a joint venture between SouthernEra providing the processing (40%), Palaeo (40%), the mining contractor and Vutomi (20%) providing the ground.

Additionally, the Company said that Vutomi's application for a Section 27 Mining Permit over a portion of the Marsfontein farm has been accepted by the authorities.  Marsfontein is contiguous to, and an extension of, the Thorny River project.  This portion of the farm is host to the rich M8 kimberlite dyke, bordering the great Marsfontein diamond mine, in-situ gravels and dumps.