Ashton finds kimberlite sill on Ric property

An exploration program on the Ric property in far northern Nunavut has culminated in the discovery of a sill-like kimberlite body at the head of a diamondiferous indicator mineral train.

Ashton Mining of Canada (ACA-T) made the find after a sampling program uncovered diamonds in the till. An initial 25-kg till sample and a follow-up 100-kg sample yielded a total of 14 microdiamonds. Another till sample, collected 500 metres to the east, contained a macrodiamond measuring 0.85 by 0.6 by 0.6 mm.

Follow-up prospecting in the area revealed abundant kimberlite float widely distributed over a strike length of 1.4 km. Four separate samples of the float all contained diamonds, with the best results evident in a 31-kg sample that which returned nine micros. This sample occurs in a 300-metre-wide indicator mineral train that leads to a small (400-by-600-metre) lake. The lake is associated with a geophysical anomaly.

Ashton began drill-testing this target in mid-September and, in its first hole, intersected 11.6 metres of kimberlite at a depth of 45.7 metres. The hole was angled 45 to the south. Three subsequent holes were drilled from the same site at different angles and encountered similar thicknesses of kimberlite, suggesting the presence of a shallow-dipping kimberlite sill with a true thickness of 10 metres.

One additional hole tested this kimberlite body, which has been dubbed Perseus, 50 metres to the east.

Ashton says several mineral trains on the Ric property are still unexplained and that the company hopes to use the results from the 386 till samples collected this summer to identify targets for follow-up geophysical work.

Situated 250 km northwest of Yellowknife, the Ric property is part of the Slave regional joint venture between Ashton and Pure Gold Minerals (PUG-T). Ashton has an 84.5% interest in the package, with the remainder held by Pure Gold. Heavy mineral sampling programs were also conducted on the joint venture’s other properties in Nunavut, including Roc, Bel, Con and the newly staked Kim property.

Ashton recently entered into an option agreement with Caledonia Mining (CAL-T) to earn up to a 59.5% interest of the Kikerk Lake property in Nunavut, 500 km north of Yellowknife.

The Kikerk Lake property consists of 15 claims covering 154 sq. km and is currently held 70% by Caledonia and 30% by Northern Empire Minerals (NEM-V) (formerly Condor International Resources). Ashton is carrying out a program of till sampling to follow-up on previously defined indicator mineral trains. Limited drilling and prospecting have failed to find the source of these anomalies.

Under terms of the agreement, Ashton has assumed operatorship and can earn a 52.5% interest by spending $750,000 on exploration over three years. Ashton can boost its interest to 59.5% by carrying Caledonia to the completion of a feasibility study.

Northern Empire, a Northair Group company, contends it has a right of first refusal over Caledonia’s interest. However, Caledonia denies that any right of this kind exists. The matter is before an arbitration hearing.