Firestone Diamonds, the London AIM listed diamond exploration outfit, moved closer to its long term objective of listing on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE), as it furnished its sponsoring brokers this week with necessary documents to be filed with the exchange.
The diamond exploration outfit’s gesture will make it the third┬ácompany to list on the BSE┬ásince the beginning of the year following Wilderness Safaris and Cresta Marakanelo ÔÇô coming next monthÔÇöto enter the local bourse.
This week’s┬ádecision by Firestone Diamonds┬áwill push it closer to submitting┬áthe documents to the regulating authority that will lead to its admission.
The fact that the company is already listed in┬á LondonÔÇö under a more rigorous regime–┬á and that it is not necessarily looking up to raising cash should qualify it for automatic listing.
The diamond exploration company, with a number of assets in Botswana and, to a certain extent, in South Africa might signal that the local economy is emerging out of the worst economic downturn since  World War II.
┬á“This will add to a number of listable entities on BSE. We can foresee them having any problems with the local requirement because they are already listed on the London Stock Exchange,” head of┬áCapital Securities and nominated sponsoring broker, Gregory Matsake, has said.
He added: “This is an opportunity for local investors to partake in the exploitation of their natural resources.”
The┬á company is currently eyeing to start production at BK 11ÔÇösome┬á 20 kilometers south-east of Orapa mine and five kilometers north east of┬á African Diamonds’┬á AK 6 proposed mineÔÇö during the second quarter of 2010.
The move is expected to coincide with its listing, which will also bolster the presence of the company in the local scene. Firestone Diamonds Plc┬áis also involved in diamond exploration near Jwaneng Mine and Tsabong areas where its finds have been┬ádescribed as “ encouraging.”
“Firestone has made a substantial investment in its Botswana operations, which are now the primary focus for the Company.┬á With BK11 due to commence production shortly, and more than 100 kimberlites in our licence areas in the Orapa, Jwaneng and Tsabong regions, we believe that we have a successful future ahead of us in Botswana and look forward to growing our shareholder base in Botswana,” Chief Executive Officer of Firestone Diamonds Plc, Philip Kenny, said nearly two months ago.
 
Further, the company indicated that it has been granted Local Asset Status by the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority of Botswana. 
The ability of Botswana-based institutional investors to invest in Botswana Stock Exchange-listed companies is significantly improved by the granting of Local Asset Status.
 
Last year, Firestone Diamonds said it was embolden by the results from BK11, especially with the┬áresource from┬áKW which has a “high confidence grade” and diamond and diamond value estimates to be made. This is based on inferred resource of 12 million tones defined containing approximately 830,000 carats for the area.
The west side of BK11 was valued between 9-15 carats, whose value was estimated at US $ 175 per carat out of 7 million  tonnes.
“The quality of diamonds recovered from sampling was very good, comprising┬ámostly of┬áclear white gemstones and very little boart. The parcel contained four stones of over one carat in┬ásize, which is very encouraging in relation to diamond value, with the biggest stone recovered being 1.93 carats and valued at US $ 910 per carat,” the company has said in a statement.
