Darnley Bay gears up for major program

The coming year promises to be a busy one for Darnley Bay Resources (DBL-V) as it continues to search for deposits of copper, nickel, platinum group elements (PGE) and diamonds in the Inuvialuit settlement region of the Northwest Territories.

The company holds mineral rights covering a large gravity anomaly coinciding with a slightly smaller magnetic anomaly. The anomaly, described by the Canadian Geological Survey as the largest in North America, is believed to be caused by a major mafic-ultramafic intrusive body, the host rock for most copper-nickel-PGE deposits in the world. Falconbridge (FL-T) has rights to participate in this project.

On the diamond front, an aeromagnetic survey has found 55 discrete, isolated, magnetic anomalies believed to be kimberlite pipes. The discovery prompted De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBRSY-Q) to participate in the program. Last summer, the diamond giant subscribed for $500,000 of the company’s shares and agreed to collect and analyze till samples as part of its due diligence.

About 100 tonnes were collected and shipped to South Africa for final analysis. Results from this work are expected shortly, though it is known that at least three of 10 kimberlite targets sampled are diamond-bearing. Partial testing of smaller duplicate samples by Lakefield Research returned two macrodiamonds and more than 100 microdiamonds.

Other geophysical targets have since been identified on Darnley Bay’s land package.

In an attempt to idenfity base metal and PGE targets, Darnley Bay will carry out geophysical surveys prior to drilling.