Indicator discovers diamonds at Barrow

The recent recovery of 176 diamonds from a piece of kimberlite float has Indicator Minerals (ime-v, imeef-o) gearing up for a busy exploration season at its 80%-owned Barrow project in the Franklin diamond district of eastern Nunavut.

Barrow is one of the company’s key projects in the emerging diamond district, which is believed to have similar potential to the nearby Aviat and Churchill districts. The company acquired much of the ground through a staking campaign conducted several years ago in the dead of winter to beat out competitors.

Barrow covers 110,000 acres (445 sq. km) of claims, and became a priority project last year after a macrodiamond was discovered during an indicator-mineral sampling program.

The diamond-bearing, 25.5-kg sample of kimberlite float was discovered during the 2005 field season while following up high-priority airborne geophysical targets. Of the 176 diamonds recovered, 171 were microdiamonds and five were macros. The diamonds were mostly clear and colourless, and were dominated by octahedral crystals. The company believes the float originated on the property, but drilling is required to establish this as a certainty.

The Barrow project is situated 15 km south of the tidewater community of Kugaaruk in the Kitikmeot region. The project will be further tested this year by heavy-mineral sampling, prospecting and ground geophysical programs, followed by drilling later in the field season, if supported by ongoing positive results.

President Bruce Counts describes the Franklin diamond district as “the new kid on the block” in the Canadian Arctic. In addition to the proposed program for Barrow, the company plans to carry geophysical surveys and a 1,000-metre drill program at its 80%-owned Darby project, also in the Franklin district. Over the past two years, the company identified three distinct kimberlite float trains, and more than 35 “high-interest” airborne geophysical targets at Darby.

A priority target at Darby is the 27.7-acre (11.2 hectares) Iceberg target, where numerous G10 pyrope garnets with diamond-inclusion chemistry were recovered in sampling programs. The target is also defined by a coincident magnetic-electromagnetic airborne anomaly. The field program at Darby is scheduled to begin in late April, with drilling to follow in early June.

Indicator Minerals holds more than 6 million acres of targeted ground in the Canadian Arctic and southern Africa. The Lokgwabe project in Botswana is also at the drill-ready stage.