“An outside company made an offer for Vutomi. Rather than accept the offer, we exercised our pre-emptive right to acquire the outstanding shares.”
John Teeling, chairperson
“We are very positive on the production opportunities for the Thorny River properties owned by Vutomi,” chairperson John Teeling said in the statement. “An outside company made an offer for Vutomi. Rather than accept the offer, we exercised our pre-emptive right to acquire the outstanding shares (…) We acted to preserve shareholder value.”
On completion of the acquisition, Botswana Diamonds intends to sell 26% of Vutomi for a deferred consideration of $316,333 to the company’s local South African empowerment partner, Baroville Trade and Investments 02.
“Since working on Thorny River thirty years ago, we recognized potential for discoveries on a kimberlite system spanning 20km. Recent drilling vindicated this view and indicates potential for additional nearby discoveries,” managing director James Campbell said in the statement.
The Thorny River project is in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province and the volume of its main deposit has been modelled at between 1.2 and 2 million tonnes (to 100m). It has a diamond grade ranging between 46 and 74 cpht and diamond values in the range of $120 and $220 per carat.
