Firestone Diamonds, the London AIM listed budding diamond miner, edged closer to entering the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) last week as it expressed its resolve by submitting the application forms to be admitted in the fledging market.
The diamond exploration outfit’s gesture will┬ámake it the third┬ácompany to list on the BSE┬ásince the beginning of the year, following Wilderness Safaris and Cresta Marakanelo┬áwho entered the market during the┬áthird quarter of the year.
Last┬áweek’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┬áthe company is already listed in LondonÔÇö under a more rigorous regimeÔÇö 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, South Africa, might signal that the local economy has emerged out of the worst economic downturn since World War II.
“I believe everything is in order and we are hoping that its┬áapplication will be┬áapproved sometime this week,” one source said, adding that┬á“its intention is to list┬áas early as next week.”
The budding diamond miner operates┬áthe BK11 mine┬áwhich is near OrapaÔÇöa place dubbed the best┬ádiamond address with the street name being Orapa.┬á Orapa Mine, which was discovered in 1969, is the world’s biggest diamond mine.
┬á“This will add to a number of listable entities on BSE. We can not 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 said.
He added: “This is an opportunity for local investors to partake in the exploitation of their natural resources.”
BK 11 is some┬á20 kilometres south-east of Orapa mine and five kilometers north east of┬á African Diamonds’┬á AK 6 proposed mine.
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 is also involved in diamond exploration near Jwaneng Mine and Tsabong areas where its finds have been┬ádescribed as “encouraging”.
┬áLast year, Firestone Diamonds said it was embolden by the results from BK11, especially with the┬áresource from┬áKW, which has a “high confidence grade”.
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.
