12 December 2024
Botswana Diamonds
PLC
("Botswana Diamonds" or the
"Company")
Groundbreaking AI Analysis Identifies Seven New
Kimberlite
Anomalies
in Botswana
Highlights
· Seven significant
kimberlite targets have been identified to date that have never
been previously reported, one of which is of extremely high
interest, in the opinion of the Botswana Diamonds board.
· The
Artificial Intelligence ("AI") programme has also revealed compelling polymetallic
targets in areas currently unlicenced.
Chairman, John Teeling, commented:
"The identification of seven,
previously unreported, anomalies is a major achievement. To
discover them in a few short months is a major step forward in
mineral exploration. Using AI techniques and powerful computing,
almost 400,000 kilometres of airborne geophysical and other
exploration data has been analysed and evaluated. It is astounding.
Botswana Diamonds is extremely fortunate to have such a vast
treasure trove of decades of diamond exploration data in
Botswana.
I would like to highlight one
anomaly which has a signature that outranks all of the others and
is of particular interest to the Company.
We are long term believers in the
diamond prospectivity of Botswana and these results reinforce the
belief. We believe more diamond mines will be discovered in
Botswana".
Details
Botswana Diamonds announces, further
to its announcement of 16 August 2024, the preliminary findings of
its Artificial Intelligence driven, multi-mineral prospectivity
programme. The programme is using the Company's extensive owned
database with other comprehensive open-source databases. These
databases include over 375,000 kms of airborne geophysical and
other data, covering many decades of work in Botswana. Data
utilised includes geophysics, geological, structural, geochemistry
and satellite data. The purpose is to identify new
targets.
The Company utilised Planetary AI's
'Xplore' mineral prospectivity platform to perform the detailed
analysis. Initial results identified an exciting number of new and
promising targets across much of the country.
A workflow comprising a combination
of AI models was applied in the first instance to understand the
data, analyse it and then enrich it. The enriched datasets were
then interrogated against Xplore's proprietary in-house deposit
models to identify prospective areas within Botswana in the search
for diamonds, but also covered a number of different
minerals.
Seven significant kimberlite targets
have been identified to date that have not been previously
reported, with one target being identified by the Board of being
particularly high interest due to its geological qualities. The AI
work also discovered new compelling polymetallic targets in areas
currently unlicenced. Work is ongoing on these new areas of
interest which now focuses on four main deposit types and eleven
sub types. These deposit types include elements such as gold,
copper, silver, nickel, zinc and PGMs. The Company will now assess
these opportunities.
This release has been approved by James Campbell, Managing
Director of Botswana Diamonds plc, a qualified geologist
(Pr.Sci.Nat), a Fellow of the Geological Society of South Africa, a
Fellow of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,
a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Metals and Mining (UK) and
with over 38-years' experience in the diamond
sector.
A copy of
this announcement is available on the Company's website, at
www.botswanadiamonds.co.uk
This announcement contains
inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market
Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law
by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as
amended.
Enquiries:
Botswana
Diamonds PLC
John Teeling, Chairman
James Campbell, Managing Director
Jim Finn, Director
|
+353 1 833 2833
+27 83 457 3724
+353 1 833 2833
|
Nominated & Financial Adviser
Strand Hanson Limited
Ritchie Balmer
Rory Murphy
David Asquith
|
+44 (0) 20 7409 3494
|
Broker
First Equity Limited
Jason Robertson
|
+44 (0) 207
374 2212
|
Public
Relations
BlytheRay
Megan Ray Said Izagaren
|
+44 (0) 207
138 3204
|
Teneo
Luke Hogg
Alan Tyrrell
Fia Long
Alan Reynolds
|
+353 (0) 1
661 4055
+353 (0) 1
661 4055
|
www.botswanadiamonds.co.uk
ENDS