News

March 05, 2008

Firestone Diamonds Needs A Billion Dollars For MK1

By Our Man in the City

“It's ten times cheaper to mine diamonds in Botswana than Canada or Russia. Seven in every one hundred kimberlites are economic in the African country, compared to only one per cent worldwide,” claims Tim Wilkes, chief operating officer of Firestone Diamonds.

The former De Beers general manager is understandably enthusiastic about Botswana as it’s home to Tsabong, Firestone's flagship project. The Tsabong licence area contains 83 known kimberlites including the lead 180 hectare MK1 site.

The company believes MK1 contains 1.1 billion tonnes of kimberlite grading at 20 carats per hundred tonnes. As this is only based on the results of one core hole, it's too early to get carried away by that estimate. But that hasn't dampened Mr Wilkes'...