Prospecting History leading to the discovery of

Botswana's diamond mines: from artefacts to

Lesedi La Rona

Mike de Wit

Tsodilo Resources Ltd

University of Pretoria

18th September 2017

Three exploration/mining phases in Bechuanaland/Botswana

  • Pre-historic
    • Artifacts factory sites: Earliest ESA (3.4 - 1.7Ma), ESA (1.7Ma - 280Ka), MSA (280Ka - 50Ka) and LSA (50 - 20Ka) stone age
    • Mining for minerals used as pigment for rock paintings, decorative purposes (c. 2,000 BP).
    • Iron (AD 800 - 1,000), Copper (AD 1,000 - 1,700), Gold (AD 1,200 +) mining.
  • Historic
    • Gold found in 1866 (lower Tati River), this led to establishment of Francistown
    • 1887 - 1888: Prospecting for diamonds in Bangwaketsi Native Reserve (Balkis Ltd)
    • 1896 - 1898: Prospecting for diamonds in Ngamiland (West Charterland Ltd)
    • 1932 - 1938: Prospecting for diamonds in Bamangwato reserve (Victoria Prospecting Co Ltd)
  • Modern
    • 1959 - 1960: Consolidated African Selection Trust - CAST (Bamangwato Reserve).
    • 1955 - present: Kimberlitic Searches/De Beers Botswana
    • 1977 - 1982: Falconbridge
    • 1990s - Tinto Botswana, TNK, Seltrust, Motapa, Ampal, Petra, Kalahari, Firestone, Lucara, etc
  1. Pre-historicmining (3.4 Ma - AD 1200 +)

Moore et al. (2012)

Silcrete artifacts at the

base of the Kalahari

over BK9 (Walker 2011) and BK12 (Gibson, pers. comm. 2017)

Archaeological sites around the Makgadikgadi

Basin

  • Earliest ESA (3.4 - 1.7 Ma) - 995 m

ESA

(1.7 - 0.3 Ma)

- 945 m

MSA

(300 - 50 Ka)

- below 945 m

LSA

(50 - 20 Ka)

- < 920 m

Successive older stone age artifacts are concentrated at progressive higher lake levels.

Earliest ESA (Oldowan)

artifacts on BK09

Pre-historic mines in

Botswana:

AD 800 - 1,200

  • Iron (AD 800 - 1,000)
  • Copper (AD 1,000 - 1,700)
  • Gold (AD 1,200 +)

15m deep pre-historic stope

Pre-historic Dukwe Copper mines:

Malokojwe

Orapa

Van Waarden 2017

  • Charcoal from fire-setting was collected for dating - 13th - 14th century.
  • The blocky nature is where the rock had been removed by iron gad and hammerstones.
  • The green copper oxide (mostly chrysocolla) left behind, as the miners only targeted malachite.

Prehistoric mining at Tsodilo Hills for specularite-hematite used for pigment

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Tsodilo Resources Limited published this content on 18 September 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 17 September 2022 00:09:01 UTC.