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exploration
he also worked in Australia’s famed Pilbara iron ore
region, at the Greater Paraburdoo mines and later on
the Koodaideri evaluation project.
While Tsodilo’s future seems to be intimately bound
up with metals, it is by no means neglecting its dia-
mond exploration, which originally constituted the
entire thrust of its efforts in Botswana. The company
started life in the mid-90s as Trans Hex International,
a subsidiary of diamond miner Trans Hex Group, and
was renamed Tsodilo Resources in 2002, after minori-
ties bought out Trans Hex’s interest.
Bruchs has headed the TSX-V listed company since
2002. A US citizen with his home in Washington, DC,
he is a lawyer by profession but his passion is dia-
mond exploration and he spends a good portion of
each year in Botswana. He finds the country a perfect
destination in every way, having previously worked
in much more ‘demanding’ areas of the continent, in-
cluding Chad, the Central African Republic, Rwanda,
the DRC and Congo Brazzaville. He leads a Tsodilo
team now numbering nearly 40 people, mostly citi-
zens of Botswana, and stresses that the company’s
resources are all directed into exploration. “I’m the
only executive to live outside Africa and Maun in
Botswana is our operational base, although we do
maintain a very small office in Canada,” he says.
The company’s core shed – where 36,7 km of core
is stored – is located in a leased hangar at Maun’s air-
port. Unusually for an explorer, Tsodilo also has its
own drill fleet consisting of two diamond rigs as well
as support trucks – all 6 x 6 to cope with the difficult
conditions in the Botswanan bush.
Tsodilo’s diamond licences cover 3 255 km
2
and
are held by its subsidiaries, Newdico and Gcwihaba
Resources. Apart from a recently acquired new dia-
mond permit south-west of Jwaneng, the licences
are all in the north-west of Botswana and take in the
Nxau Nxau kimberlite field just east of the Namibia-
Botswana border and close to two major unexplained
surface concentrations of both diamonds and G10
garnets – the Tsumkwe and Omatako targets – in
Namibia. Looking ahead, Tsodilo is planning to com-
plete its first stage assessment of two of the Nxau
Nxau kimberlites (K10 and K11) and also has five fur-
ther targets which are drill ready.
Summing up, Bruchs says that Tsodilo now has
a busy time ahead of it with copper, iron ore, ura-
nium and diamonds all in the company’s portfolio.
“Obviously, there is an enormous amount of work
to be done and we are still at the early exploration
stage in respect of the metals,” he says. “But if these
targets do shape up the way we hope they will, the
consequences could be very far reaching. Certainly
the potential is there to transform Botswana’s min-
ing sector, which is over-dependent on diamonds and
desperately needs further diversification. We’re very
excited by developments and hope we will be able to
release further good news to the market over the next
year or two.”
Photos courtesy of Tsodilo Resources
