Kingswood, Botswana amalgamate

Alberta-listed Kingswood Resources has amalgamated with Botswana Minerals, a privately owned Canadian company, to form Southern Africa Minerals.

Under the merger, Kingswood shareholders will receive one Southern Africa share for every 2.5 Kingswood shares, while Botswana shareholders will receive one Southern Africa share for each Botswana share held. The new company, which will continue to trade on the ASE, currently has 12.2 million shares outstanding, as well as 2.7 million warrants and options which are redeemable into shares on a 1-to-1 basis.

As a result of the merger, Southern Africa wholly owns four major diamond projects in Botswana: Bokspits-Lekgodu, Kokong-Mabuasehube, Molopo and Mosomane. Molopo hosts the M1, which is the world’s largest known kimberlite pipe.

The four concessions, which cover nearly 8.7 million acres, all lie along the same geological trend that hosts the Jwaneng diamond mine in Botswana and the Venetia diamond mine in South Africa.

The properties contain 62 known kimberlite pipes, 13 of which are diamond-bearing. Hundreds of additional kimberlite targets have already been identified for immediate testing.

Southern Africa Chairman David Jones says the company plans to complete airborne geophysical surveys over the concessions and then ground-truth the targets using geochemical sampling. Once the targets are confirmed, test holes will be drilled and the chemistry of the pipes will be studied. Jones says geological and geophysical compilations are in progress and that field work is expected to begin in late May or early June.