Efforts by diamond company Pangolin have proven fruitful with the firm's announcement that it discovered kimberlite in Botswana, Mining Weekly reports. The diamondiferous discovery occurred at Pangolin's 1,500 square kilometer Tsabong North concession and is the firm's first successful find.

Pangolin was thrilled in April to report that its drill core samples at the site contained high-pressure garnets, a tell-tale sign of a kimberlite pipe closeby. A Canadian company analyzed the contents of the rock samples and identified crater facies sediments between 33 to 59 meters underground and underlying reworked volcaniclastic kimberlite up to 76 meters underground. The latter were found to be similar to the nearby Tsabong Kimberlite Field, drilled over three decades ago.

On the strength of the discovery, Pangolin plans two more diamond drill holes at the site, to intersect more than 100 meters of kimberlite. Pangolin chair Dr. Leon Daniels expressed great pleasure at the news of the company's success.