Canabrava recovers diamonds at Hadley Bay

Junior Canabrava Diamond (CNB-T) has recovered three stones from the Turnstone kimberlite, one of a cluster of ten magnetic anomalies discovered last summer at the Hadley Bay diamond property in the Canadian Arctic.

The stones were sieved from a 20-kg sample of outcropping of the dyke. One measured 1.03 by 0.71 by 0.64 mm, making it a macrodiamond; the others failed to exceed 0.5 mm in at least one dimension and are therefore microdiamonds.

The width of the dyke is not known, but detailed ground geophysics suggest it strikes for 1.5 km.

Despite the low count, Canabrava is encouraged by the size of the macrodiamond, comparing it to several obtained from the nearby King Eider kimberlite. However, that kimberlite has proved complex in that it consists of six phases, based on geophysical and visual interpretations.

The two holes that tested King Eider yielded 21 macros in all, plus 51 microdiamonds. The largest stone, from hole 12, measured 1.17 by 1.17 by 1.13 mm, while the lone macro picked from hole 13 fell into the 0.3-to-0.425 square-mesh screen category.

The holes were drilled from the same collar but in opposite directions.

Ground geophysics suggest the kimberlite is 300 metres long and 200 metres wide.

Another four kimberlites — Pluto, Apollo, Diana and Neptune — came back barren (T.N.M., Nov. 25/02).

Canabrava is earning a half-interest in Hadley Bay from Diamonds North Resources (ddn-v). To earn its stake, it must spend $5 million on exploration over four years and issue 250,000 shares.