Diamond fever hits Yellowknife

Diamond fever has hit the residents of Yellowknife, N.W.T., since Dia Met Minerals (VSE) announced results from its Point Lake kimberlite prospect, 300 km north of the capital city (T.N.M., Nov. 11/91).

Sources say that four or five crews are actively staking around the junior’s 850,000-acre property and that “millions” of acres have already been claimed. Every helicopter and plane is booked solid.

The announcement stated that 81 small diamonds, all measuring less than two millimetres in diameter, had been recovered from a 59-kg sample made up of fresh kimberlite core. The core length, sampled from 140 metres to the end of the hole at 180 metres, is the richest ever intersected in Canada. But because the sample is statistically so small, the joint venture has chosen not to release carat weights and gem quality figures at this stage. “It’s unheard of to have so many diamonds in such a small sample,” said Fipke. “But a 200-tonne sample should be done before weight and gem quality are mentioned.”

The kimberlite pipe, a structure commonly associated with economical diamond deposits throughout the world, is estimated to have a surface area of 40-80 acres and is probably at least one kilometre deep. A bulk sample of 180 tonnes to test for larger diamonds is planned for this winter. Because kimberlites tend to be homogeneous, it’s likely that the larger sample will produce similar results.

“It’s not commercial yet, but if the occurrence of diamonds is consistent, it has the possibility of being economical,” said Andrew McQuire, an analyst with Broad Oak Associates.

Fipke said most of the credit for staking the Dia Met ground must go to his brother, Charles Fipke, who systematically sampled a huge area of the Northwest Territories for years before he discovered diamond indicator minerals (garnet, chromite) at Point Lake in 1990.

In the spirit of the option agreement between the two companies, BHP-Utah Mines will increase its annual expenditures on the property from $1 million to $2 million. In order to be vested with a 51% interest, BHP has also agreed to finance a feasibility study and arrange production financing of up to $500 million.