The diamondiferous BK16 kimberlite pipe, located within Botswana’s Orapa Kimberlite Field (OKF), which is known to contain rare and valuable Type IIa diamonds, has been steadily yielding diamonds.

Tsodilo Resources Limited (owner of BK16 through its 100% owned Bosoto (Pty) Limited) in a recent update said that a third parcel containing 279 diamonds totalling 43.95 carats has been delivered to I Hennig & Co's. office at the Diamond Technology Park (DTP) in Gaborone in preparation for acid cleaning.

After the diamonds receive this treatment, they will be stored at Hennig's secure facilities located at the DTP, along with the other BK16 diamonds for valuation and breakage studies. 

All the diamonds have been photographed and the carat weights and basic descriptions were entered in the company's data base prior to shipment to the DTP. 

“A detailed record of the recoveries was lodged with the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security's Department of Mines as required,” Tsodilo said. “A coherent chain of custody has been established by the Company from the BK16 kimberlite; to the Dense Media Separation (DMS) treatment plant; to the company's diamond recovery facility in Maun; to the acid cleaning facility in Gaborone; and then to Hennig's secured storage facility at the DTP.” 

Tsodilo said that Ray Ferraris (QTS-Kristal Dinamika, South Africa), will conduct a valuation and a Diamond Reconstruction Breakage study (DRB) after the stones have been acid cleaned; and that Dr Paddy Lawless (Dr Paddy Lawless & Associates CC, South Africa) has been retained to initiate a Size Frequency Distribution (SFD) study and value modelling study. This SFD and value study will be utilised to predict the diamond size frequency, and potential diamond value in a diamond deposit and contributes significantly towards the estimation of expected revenue.

“Final diamond counts and weights; detailed breakage descriptions and resorption characteristics; definitions of habit, colour, size distributions; sample grade calculations; and commercial characteristics will be compiled and finalised once all samples and audit samples have been processed, and sorted,” Tsodilo said.