Not to be outdone by the recent kimberlite discoveries near Rankin Inlet and on the Melville Peninsula in Nunavut,
Earlier this year, Diamondex acquired 24,900 sq. km of prospecting permits east of the lower Mackenzie River drainage, 310 km north of Norman Wells and 200 km south of Inuvik. This area, west of the Slave Craton and referred to as the Lena West project, was acquired based on the results of stream-sediment sampling conducted last summer. Diamondex’s experienced technical team theorized that the younger sediments covering this northern portion of the Interior Platform are underlain by stable crustal material similar in areal extent to the prospective Slave Province.
Nikolai Pokhilenko’s study of the Tertiary river drainages and Quaternary glaciation cycles concluded that the Lena West project area was a possible source for documented alluvial diamond occurrences in the Yukon and Alaska. Pokhilenko is a Russian geoscientist who has served as a technical advisor to Diamondex and its predecessor company, Winspear, since 1994.
A first pass of widely spaced, stream-sediment sampling in the project area revealed anomalous concentrations of kimberlite indicator mineral grains, including pyrope garnet, picroilmenite, and (more rarely) chromite. Indicator minerals were found in 94% of the samples, said Diamondex President Randy Turner during a presentation earlier this year at the annual convention of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada, in Toronto.
“We believe that these were not sourced from the Slave Province and that they are locally sourced,” Turner continued. “And we believe that this is a new kimberlite province with the potential for several diamond-bearing kimberlite clusters.”
Diamondex is spending $2 million at Lena West this year on a combined program of airborne geophysics and follow-up stream-sediment sampling and prospecting. The company has contracted Fugro Airborne Surveys to complete a 63,800-line-km high-resolution aeromagnetic survey at a flight line spacing of 300 metres.
In addition to Lena West, Diamondex holds varying interests in 14 other properties in the southern Slave Province of the Northwest Territories, the Coronation Gulf district of Nunavut, and northern Quebec.
This past spring, the company drilled six promising targets on three properties in the southern Slave region without encountering any kimberlite. Ground geophysical surveys were first conducted across 16 airborne targets identified from a previously flown mag and electromagnetic (EM) survey over the neighbouring Hilltop and Cache properties, 180 km northeast of Yellowknife.
Two targets at the head of a 7-km-long-by-1.5-km-wide kimberlite indicator mineral train on the wholly owned Hilltop property were drilled unsuccessfully. Two targets were also tested on the Cache property, with no kimberlite found. Cache is held 80% by Diamondex and 20% by
This summer, Diamondex will return to the Hilltop area to collect additional till samples and conduct further ground geophysical surveys.
On the adjoining, wholly owned Bearhead property, Diamondex uncovered a new kimberlite indicator train in the southwestern corner of the property from last summer’s heavy mineral sampling. Two targets, defined by ground geophysics, were drill-tested this spring with negative results. Summer sampling is planned for Bearhead and the nearby Kingfish property.
In the Coronation Gulf region, Diamondex holds a 70% interest in the 625-sq.-km Peregrine joint-venture property.
In northern Quebec, Diamondex is exploring the Lac Gayot region in a 50-50 joint venture with
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