Corona’s sample shows diamonds in Saskatchewan

The core contained microdiamonds of undetermined economic value that gave no indication of the grade or quality of the deposit. But news of the find ignited the market anyway. Corona’s find was on claims where it has a 70% option from Saskatoon-based Claude, holder of more than 600,000 acres in the area. Claude’s share value, trading at $3.50 before the announcement, leaped to a high of $6.00 before falling back to around the $4.30 mark.

Just finding the kimberlite to be diamondiferous is an achievement. Only 10% of the world’s known deposits of the greenish blue, ultramafic rock contain diamonds and just 10% of these prove to be economic. Corona intersect ed the kimberlite in May on the first hole drilled on its 34,000-acre option. Hole LK-1, drilled at a 60 degrees angle, intersected kimberlite at 37 m and was still in the rock when the hole was lost at 145 m.

Drilling was immediately halted and the core sent for analysis at Lakefield Research in Peterborough, Ont. With only part of the core analyzed, Corona will wait for more information before deciding what to do next, says Peter McBride, director of investor relations.

“We’re trying to be patient and carry this out in a systematic manner,” says McBride. “But the fact that we drilled one hole and hit diamond-bearing kimberlite is pretty encouraging,” he added.

“To take such a small sample and find diamonds in it — the odds against that are astronomical,” says Peter Gummer, Claude’s vice- president of minerals.

The Corona claims are near property staked by Monopros Inc., a subsidiary of South African diamond giant De Beers Consolidated Mines. Last fall, Monopros revealed that it had found diamondiferous kimberlite but that it was “unlikely to be economic.”

It is Claude Resources that has been most active in the region, grabbing the land that surrounds the Monopros claims. In addition to the Corona option, Claude has a 50/50 joint venture with Aaron Oil (VSE) on two properties totalling 46,080 acres southeast and southwest of the diamondiferous pipes. Aaron recently announced plans to conduct a ground-based geophysical program to further define the anomalies on the claims.

Holding smaller parcels in the region are Cameco and Uranerz Exploration of Saskatoon.

Some of the choicest land belongs to the Sturgeon Lake Indian Reserve. The reserve covers 22,000 acres and includes the area immediately south of the Corona and Monopros kimberlites.

Kimberlite is a volcanic rock that is the most common source of diamonds. Named for the town of Kimberley, South Africa, where it was first identified, kimberlite extrudes to the surface from depth in narrow necks or pipes, often in swarms of several dozen.

In Saskatchewan these pipes pierce to the surface through non- magnetic shales and are, therefore, easily identified by airborne electro- magnetic surveys, says Gummer. He says dozens of other anomalies have been identified, but have yet to be drilled.

Kimberlites have been found in Canada before and some small microdiamonds recovered, but none of the deposits have proved economic.

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