Botswana Diamonds, the Africa-focused minerals explorer chaired by veteran investor John Teeling, has said the joint venture it owns with Alrosa has been awarded three new prospecting licences.

Sunland Minerals was established by the two companies to carry out exploration work in Botswana's Orapa region.

The three licences awarded to Sunland cover46 sq km, 48 sq km and 3.3 sq km respectively.

The licences PL135 and PL136 were selected to verify previously identified geophysical anomalies. The third licence PL137, contains mineralogical anomalies with kimberlite indicator minerals, namely pyropes, ilmenites and in particular chrome diopsides.

Botswana Diamonds said geoscientists will now focus on the target areas using small grids to carry out detailed geophysics and to acquire mineral chemistry data with the aim of making rapid decisions regarding potential drilling.

The Aim-listed company also has exploration prospects in Cameroon.