Modern Mining July 2015

COUNTRY FOCUS – BOTSWANA

Alrosa brings new technology to diamond exploration in Botswana

A regular – and popular speaker – at the Botswana Resource Sector Conference, held in Gaborone every year, is John Teeling, the ebullient head of Dublin-based explorer Botswana Diamonds. At this year’s event, he gave a typically upbeat address in which he explained the company’s strategy, including its 50/50 joint venture – signed in 2013 – with Russian diamond mining giant Alrosa. He said Alrosa was applying new technology and bringing ‘fresh eyes’ to previously explored ground in Botswana.

– at least by value – and hosted world-class mines such as Jwaneng, Orapa and Letlhakane, which had been joined more recently by Karowe and Ghaghoo. Turning to the question of technology, he said Botswana Diamonds and Alrosa were now deploying the latter’s proprietary technology which was being used to explore, as he put it, “up to 100 m beneath the Kalahari sand, swamps and basalt.” He added that Alrosa has discovered 19 kimberlite mines in Russia, which together produced 36,2 million carats in 2014 – approximately 26 % of world produc- tion. Alrosa operates mainly in Russia but it does also have a one-third share in the Catoca diamond mine in Angola. Botswana Diamonds has tenements in the Orapa area and in the Central Kalahari near the new Ghaghoo mine of Gem Diamonds,

John Teeling listens to a question at the recent Botswana Resource Sector Con- ference in Gaborone (photo: Bennie Venter).

O pening his presentation, Teeling said there were four pre-requi- sites for a pure explorer such as Botswana Diamonds. “You need a market for the product you’re looking for, you need good ground, you need good technology and you need good people,” he said, adding that Botswana Diamonds, whose shares are traded on London’s AIM, was able to tick all these boxes. On the subject of market demand, he said the fundamentals for diamonds were good and noted that the industry was now being

Alrosa and Botswana Diamonds geologists in the field (photo: Botswana Diamonds).

driven by demand from Asia, particu- larly China, with historic consumer markets such as the US and Europe declining – in relative terms – in importance. He also argued that cur- rent diamond supply was flat and that there had been no significant diamond discoveries over the past 10 years. “Prices remain at historically strong levels though they’re volatile as the De Beers position weakens,” he said. Addressing the topic of good ground, he said there was no better place in the world than Botswana for diamond exploration. “Some compa- nies drill in places where they can’t possibly find the things they’re look- ing for,” he observed. He pointed out that this was clearly not the case when it came to looking for diamonds in Botswana as the country was the world’s biggest producer of diamonds

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July 2015  MODERN MINING  33