Ashton tables mini-bulk sample results

Vancouver — Ashton Mining of Canada (ACA-V) has tabled encouraging results from a 4.81 tonne sample collected from the Renard 4 kimberlitic body situated on the Foxtrot property in the Otish Mountains region of north-central Quebec.

The 4.81-tonne sample from Renard 4 was comprised of 4.53 tonnes of material selected from two geologic units as well as 0.28 tonnes of material from one of the two discovery holes drilled in early April.

One of the geological units mainly consisted of brecciated country rock with about 30% macrocrystic kimberlitic material. The remainder of the mini bulk sample was comprised of kimberlitic breccia with lesser amounts of macrocrystic material.

The material was processed through the dense media separation plant at Ashton’s North Vancouver laboratory. The mini-bulk sample returned a total of 3.11 carats of diamonds larger than 0.85 mm using a square aperture screen. This gives the 4.81-tonne sample an estimated diamond content of 64.7 cpht (carats per hundred tonnes). Ashton reports that a larger, more representative bulk samples are required to determine the diamond grade of the Renard 4 body.

The brecciated country rock recovered 0.38 carat of diamonds from a 0.70-tonne sample. The kimberlitic breccia recovered 2.73 carats of diamonds from a 4.11-tonne sample.

Ashton states that a 0.28 carat diamond was recovered from the brecciated country rock while the three largest diamonds recovered from the kimberlitic breccia weighed in at 0.32, 0.29, and 0.26 carat. Two of these diamonds are pale brown and two are colourless.

Data from the five holes drilled to date suggest that Renard 4 has approximate surface dimensions of 140-by-60 metres. Additional drilling is required to define the true dimensions of the body.

Ashton and SOQUEM, a Crown corporation of the Quebec government, have been exploring for diamonds in Quebec since 1996. The 50:50 joint venture currently holds more than 380,000-ha of prospective mineral permits in north-central Quebec including the 153,00-ha Foxtrot property. The Foxtrot property hosts eight diamondiferous Renard kimberlitic bodies.