De Beers upbeat on Botswana diamond pact after meeting new president
De Beers' CEO said he expected negotiations on a new diamond sales pact with Botswana's government to be wrapped up within weeks.
Since its discovery in September 2020, the Koula deposit at Roxgold’s (TSX: ROXG; US-OTC: ROGFF) Seguela gold project in Cote d’Ivoire, 240 km northwest of Yamoussoukro, has “blown all our expectations for the project out of the water” says the company’s president and CEO John Dorward.
“The latest drill results from the deposit continue to build our confidence that Koula has the potential to significantly extend the mine life at Seguela through a high-grade underground mining operation,” he said in an interview.
Highlights from the latest drilling at the deposit included drillhole SGRD1084, which intersected 16 metres grading 26.5 grams gold per tonne from 233 metres, including 2 metres of 115.3 grams per tonne. Drillhole SGRD1088 returned 15 metres grading 18.5 grams gold from 256 metres, including 5 metres of 24.2 grams gold and 3 metres grading 45.1 grams gold.
“These holes were the first to be drilled down-plunge and outside what is considered the current resource shell,” said Dorward, who joined the company as interim CEO in September 2012 and was appointed president and CEO later that year. “They demonstrate that Koula is not only a high-grade deposit but that the mineralisation also extends to depth.”
Roxgold’s geologists found the deposit during field reconnaissance and mapping in an area considered a lower exploration priority.
