Lucara Diamond Corp. (“Lucara” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that the Republic of Botswana through the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources has granted Lucara two precious stone prospecting licenses within the Orapa Kimberlite Field in close proximity to the Karowe Diamond Mine. Both prospecting license areas host known diamondiferous kimberlites.
William Lamb, CEO commented, ”Lucara is extremely pleased to be granted these licenses and looks forward to working toward expanding our resource base. The Orapa kimberlite field is a world class location for diamond deposits and the opportunity to further evaluate known kimberlites within this region and provides the opportunity to apply knowledge gained from the Karowe mine to other pipes in the same region”.
Block A or the BK2 license is 1.07 km2 in area and located approximately 30 km to the east of Lucara’s Karowe Diamond Mine. The BK2 kimberlite has a surface area of approximately 2.4ha and is exposed at surface in a series of narrow trenches. BK2 was discovered in 1967 and has seen episodic exploration with programs ranging from surface trenching, drilling, and microdiamond sampling. Insufficient drilling has been completed to properly outline the size of the intrusion and establish the internal geology. Previous operators conducted microdiamond sampling on drill chips and surface trench material. A sample of fresh magmatic kimberlite from drilling returned a total of 800 microdiamonds from a 134.4 kilogram sample. A total of 6 diamonds were >0.850mm in size. The previous operator concluded that many of the microdiamonds were fragments of a larger diamond that was likely broken during sampling. Lucara plans to conduct a full site assessment and locate areas amenable for the extraction of a large volume of kimberlite for diamond content and size distribution analysis.
Block E is 55.4km2 in area and located immediately to the south and east of Debswana’s Orapa Mine lease and approximately 15km to the north of Lucara’s Karowe Diamond Mine. The prospecting license holds 4 known kimberlite occurrences (AK11, 12, 13, and 14). The AK13 and 14 occurrences are poorly understood and may be dykes. The AK11 is poorly constrained geologically and has an estimated surface area of 2.4ha. The AK12 kimberlite has an estimated surface area of 1 to 2.5ha and previous operators processed large diameter drill chips that confirmed that the kimberlite is diamondiferous. Both the AK11 and AK12 lie beneath a thin veneer of sand cover and may be amenable to trenching and mini-bulk sampling for diamond content and size distribution analysis.
Lucara will initiate work programs on the two prospecting license areas as soon as practical and once all permits and approvals are in place.
Dr. John P. Armstrong Ph.D. P.Geol. (NT/NU) Vice President, Mineral Resources and a “qualified person” as such term is defined under NI 43-101 has reviewed and approved the contents of this Press Release.
Source: http://www.lucaradiamond.com/