DIAMOND PAGE — Jordan yields few stones

The newly discovered Jordan kimberlite on the Afridi Lake property, near Yellowknife, N.W.T., has yielded lacklustre microdiamond results.

Kennecott Canada Exploration recovered only four stones (two macrodiamonds and two micros) from 205.1 kg of sampled kimberlite core. (A macro is defined as exceeding 0.5 mm in at least one dimension.) The largest recovered stone is a white, transparent, octahedral fragment measuring 0.66 by 0.45 by 0.35 mm.

Kennecott discovered the Jordan kimberlite only recently, during winter-spring drilling on Intertech Minerals‘ (IML-V) Afridi Lake property. The Rio Tinto (RTP-N) subsidiary tested six lake-based geophysical targets with a total of 11 holes, resulting in the discovery of the Jordan kimberlite in the extreme northwestern corner of the property.

Jordan was tested with two short-angle holes, which were drilled from the same site on the eastern end of the magnetic low anomaly. The holes encountered distinct intervals of both volcaniclastic- and hypabyssal-phase kimberlite.

The magnetic signature measures 50 metres wide by 250 metres long and occurs at an apparent break in a northwesterly trending diabase dyke. The Jordan kimberlite lies 4.5 km due west of a series of closely spaced, steeply dipping, narrow dyke-like kimberlite bodies that were discovered in early 1996. Those bodies yielded seven macros and 59 micros from 711.9 kg of drill sample. The largest recovered stone was a dodecahedral fragment measuring 1.12 by 0.83 by 0.24 mm.

Kennecott can earn a 60% interest in the Afridi Lake project from Intertech by spending $25 million on exploration.

Intertech intends to raise $225,000 through a private placement of 500,000 units priced at 45 cents each. A unit consists of one share and one non-transferable warrant; the latter entitles the owner to buy an additional share at 45 cents during the first year, or 52 cents in the second.

A portion of the proceeds will be used to explore claims recently acquired in joint venture with Kennecott Canada Exploration. The 31 new claims, totalling 32,250 ha, were staked east of, and contiguous with, the Afridi Lake property. Some of the new claims fall outside the existing Afridi Lake option agreement, and will be held in a new 60-40 joint venture.

Summer exploration at Afridi Lake is expected to resume about mid-July and will consist of prospecting, till sampling and additional diamond drilling, as well as a high-resolution airborne geophysical survey over the newly acquired ground.