Gope Diamond Project, Botswana
Stage: On Hold
Falconbridge and De Beers each own 50% of the Gope diamond project, Botswana, through the subsidiary, Gope Exploration Company (Pty) Ltd. The Gope Go25 pipe was discovered by Falconbridge in 1981 in an exploration program that resulted in the outlining of 76 kimberlites, of which two were diamond bearing. From 1995 to 1998, De Beers completed a pre-feasibility in order to earn 50% of the project.
The Gope Go25 pipe measures 10.3 hectares at 80 metres depth and 9.1 hectares at 300 metres depth. The pipe is made up of tuffsitic breccia and hypabyssal kimberlite and intrudes Karoo basalt. A historic resource estimate, not NI 43-101 compliant, by De Beers shows an indicated resource of 77.3 million tonnes grading 20 CPHT (carats per hundred tonnes) to the 400 metre level. The data used for this estimate included:
- Drilling data from various exploration campaigns on the property
- Two bulk sampling programs by Falconbridge where 5,676 tonnes of kimberlite were processed
- Underground bulk sampling and large diameter drill hole program conducted by De Beers from 1995 to 1996 which produced approximately 18,000 tonnes of kimberlite
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