News

June 23, 2009

Supported By A New Mine Plan, African Diamonds May Be On The Cusp Of Securing Funding For The AK6 Project In Botswana

By Alastair Ford

For a man renowned as an exploration specialist, Minesite catches John Teeling in something of a compromising position when we phone him up for a chat. Recently, there’s been an eerie silence from the Teeling camp as far as African Diamonds is concerned. Nothing’s come out since March, when African Diamonds released a set of interim financial results accompanied by some fairly unsubtle hints that the days of its joint venture with De Beers might be numbered. So, when John picks up the phone and announces that he’s up to his neck in discounted cash flow models it clear that it’s not the John Teeling who stakes ground in places you’d hesitate to send a squadron of marines to that we’re talking to here, but rather John Teeling the graduate in economics and business, who also holds an MBA from Wharton, Pennsylvania. He doesn’t seem to be enjoying his DCFs too much, though, and seems glad of the respite.

“They’ll take me about eight days to read”, he says, only half joking. The serious side to the DCFs is that they show a working model for the AK6 pipe, the flagship African Diamonds project, held in conjunction with De Beers and local Botswana company Wati. It’s not so long ago that envious eyes were cast in the direction of African Diamonds, as not only did it boast an economic kimberlite pipe, but with De Beers as partner, funding was also all but wrapped up. That was before the global credit...