North Arrow Minerals (TSXV: NAR) completed a $3.2-million exploration program this summer at its Naujaat project, in Nunavut, focused on advancing it towards a preliminary economic assessment.
The work at Naujaat (formerly named Qilalugaq) included the collection of a 234-tonne mini-bulk sample from the 12-hectare Q1-4 kimberlite. The kimberlite contains a population of rare, fancy orangey-yellow diamonds that North Arrow is anxious to assess.
This summer’s mini-bulk sample was collected from an “undertested” section of Q1-4 and will help the company characterize the diamond population in this section. The exposed kimberlite exposed a north-trending internal contact between distinct kimberlite blue and green phases as well as a mixed blue and green area.
North Arrow also conducted an 11-hole, 3,469-metre drill program to better define Q1-4 for indicator and microdiamond analysis, and to feed into a new geological model for the kimberlite, which will be prepared next year. The drill program collected 2,440 kg of drill core.
Drilling focused on the kimberlite below the current resource, which extends to 205 metres depth. Q1-4 hosts an inferred resource of 26.1 million carats in 48.8 million tonnes grading 53.6 carats per hundred tonnes.
A larger bulk sample is planned for 2018.
In October, North Arrow also announced a discovery at its Mel project in Nunavut. A 62.1-kg sample from the ML-8 kimberlite returned 23 diamonds larger than 0.106 mm, including one stone larger than 0.6 mm and another colourless diamond larger than 0.85 mm.
“The presence of two diamonds greater than 0.6 mm in this small sample is highly encouraging,” said North Arrow president and CEO Ken Armstrong in a release. “These initial microdiamond counts compare favourably with results from the diamondiferous Aviat and Naujaat kimberlite fields, located 240 km to the north and 210 km to the southwest of Mel, respectively.”
North Arrow will drill ML-8 and other targets at Mel next year.
The company also holds the Pikoo project in Saskatchewan.North Arrow closed a private placement for $5 million in May.
–This story originally appeared in the November 2017 issue of Diamonds in Canada.
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