Botswana Diamonds PLC has raised £525,000 (before expenses), with the purpose to employ the net proceeds of the Placing to fund ongoing kimberlite drilling at the Frischgewaagt property in South Africa, drilling in Botswana, exploration work in South Africa and in the first stage of the 2017 Alrosa/Botswana Diamonds exploration programme in the Orapa and Gope areas of Botswana.

The funds will be raised through the placing of 35,000,000 new ordinary shares with new and existing investors. The shares are at a price of 1.5p per Placing Share. The Placing Shares represent approximately 9.37 percent of the company's issued share capital as enlarged by the Placing. Application will be made for the Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM and it is expected that such Admission will become effective on or around 2nd March 2017.

John Teeling, Chairman, commented "Our exploration activities are gaining momentum. We are drilling at Frischgewaagt, our late stage exploration property in South Africa and we will start drilling in Botswana imminently. The Alrosa team will also commence their fieldwork in early March. The two drilling programmes will be completed by the end of March, after which we anticipate a period of six to eight weeks' analysis. The finance raised will fund these programmes and I look forward to providing our shareholders with further updates as appropriate."