DIAMOND PAGE — Drilling heats up in Territorial diamond play — Juniors advance exploration projects while Diavik moves to permitting stage

Several diamond exploration programs are in full swing in the Northwest Territories.

Monopros, the Canadian subsidiary of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBRS-Q), has launched a drill program on the AK claims, 100 km east of Lac de Gras.

The AK-CJ properties are held 90% by Mountain Province Mining (MPV-V) and 10% by Camphor Ventures (CFV-V). Monopros has the right to earn up to a 60% interest in the properties.

Delineation drilling is being carried out on the newly discovered Tesla, Tuzo and Hearne kimberlite pipes, as well as on the 5034 kimberlite.

Monopros found the three pipes last year while drill-testing geophysical targets in the vicinity of the 5034 pipe.

Exploration drilling of another four to five targets in the immediate area of the 5034 pipe is also planned. In addition, results from the 1997 airborne geophysical survey and till sampling program are being used to select drill targets in the southern half of the AK property. Nine indicator mineral trains have been identified to date. The geochemistry of recovered sub-calcic G-10 pyropes falls within the diamond inclusion chemistry field.

Mountain Province expects that at least 30 new targets will be drilled in 1998.

Highlights of past results are as follows:

* The Tuzo pipe, 700 metres northeast of 5034, yielded 697 diamonds from a 278-kg sample of core. Fifty-five of the diamonds were larger than a 0.5-by-0.5-mm screen size; the largest diamond recovered weighed 1.56 carats, whereas 20 stones were larger than 0.01 carat.

* The Hearne pipe is 1.1 km southwest of the 5034 pipe. A 300-kg sample of drill core returned 763 diamonds, of which 88 stones were greater than the 0.5-by-0.5-mm screen size, and 10 of those stones were greater than a 2-by-2-mm screen size. The five largest stones weighed an aggregate of 0.92 carat, and 39 diamonds weighed more than 0.01 carat.

* Lying 1.8 km northwest of the 5034, the Tesla pipe has yielded 109 diamonds from a 66-kg core sample. Eight of these were larger than the 0.5-by-0.5-mm screen size.

* The 5034 kimberlite contains a drill-indicated resource of 20 million tonnes to a depth of 350 metres. A preliminary evaluation by De Beers on a 164-carat parcel of diamonds, exceeding a commercial cutoff recovery size of 1.65 mm, averaged US$55 per carat. The grade of those diamonds is 1.5 carats per tonne.

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Other juniors

With its LA 7 claim just 200 metres south of the Hearne pipe, Gerle Gold (GGL-V) is formulating plans for the 1998 exploration season on the Doyle Lake project. Gerle is partnered on the LA 1-25 claims with Monopros, which earned a 60% interest in the claim package in 1997. Gerle remains the operator of the Doyle Lake project, which continues to be wholly funded by Monopros.

Gerle anticipates this year’s program will include drilling, sampling and mapping work.

After drilling 26 holes in 1997, the partners came up empty. In 1996, drilling traced a narrow diamondiferous sill over a strike length of 1.3 km, with intersections ranging from 0.2 to 5.7 metres in thickness. A composite 125.2-kg sample from four holes yielded 67 microdiamonds.

On the Camsell Lake project, 220 km northeast of Yellowknife, Winspear Resources (WSP-V) has begun a 7,300-metre drilling program in the Snap Lake area of the Haywood block.

Over the course of the past two years, drilling in the Snap Lake area has uncovered kimberlite in three different locations within an area of roughly 3 by 1.5 km. Thirteen kimberlite dyke intersections ranging up to 3.5 metres in thickness were encountered over an 800-by-600-metre area of the northwestern peninsula.

In total, 149 macrodiamonds and 252 micros were recovered from a 137.4-kg composite sample. (A macro is defined as measuring more than 0.5 mm in at least one dimension.) Twenty-five of the macros exceeded 1 mm in at least one dimension, with the largest stone measuring 1.79 mm.

Winspear suggests the intercepts represent a single, gently dipping, northerly striking kimberlite dyke with a true thickness averaging 2.5 metres. To obtain a preliminary valuation, a 100-to-200-tonne mini-bulk sample will be collected from the dyke during this year’s program.

In the southeastern portion of Snap Lake, past drilling intersected four narrow intervals of kimberlite dyke material. An 11.8-kg sample of this material yielded 3 macros and 11 micros.

Near the northeastern shore of Snap Lake, two holes, drilled 55 metres apart, intersected 100-metre intervals of complex kimberlite breccia at the CL 186 site. An aggregate 153.6-kg sample returned 42 macros and 83 micros.

In addition, a new train of kimberlite breccia boulders was found last fall on the southwestern shore of Snap Lake. From a 259-kg sample, Winspear recovered 169 macros and 325 micros, including 18 stones greater than 1 mm in size, four stones greater than 2 mm and three in excess of 3 mm.

About 4,800 metres of drilling will be conducted in the Snap Lake area. An additional 1,000 metres of drilling are planned for the CL 25 area, where recent till sampling and geophysics have identified seven priority targets.

Upon completing the planned program, which is budgeted at $2.7 million, Winspear will have increased its interest in the Haywood block to 68.5%. The balance will be held by Aber Resources (ABZ-T).

West of, and contiguous with, the Haywood block is the Athenia project, which is held 55% by Winspear and 45% by Aber. Ten geophysical targets will be tested with 1,500 metres of drilling.

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Diavik project

Aber holds a 40% interest in the Diavik project, the second-most advanced diamond project in the Northwest Territories. The operator is Diavik Diamond Mines, a division of Rio Tinto (RTP-N), which holds the remainder. The project is in the Lac de Gras region.

The partners are reviewing the results of a 2-year, $80-million bulk-sampling and prefeasibility study on four diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes: A-154 South, A-418, A-154 North and A-21. Together, these constitute a resource of 37.3 million tonnes grading 3.3 carats per tonne, at an average value of US$53 per carat.

A project description is expected to be filed with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs by the end of the first quarter of 1998, which will be followed by the government’s environmental assessment process. A final feasibility study will commence shortly thereafter.

The exploration budget at Diavik is set at $9 million for 1998, including $4.3 million of additional drilling on previously identified pipes (other than the four main pipes). To date, 50 kimberlite pipes have been discovered on the project, 20 of which proved to be diamondiferous. A mini-bulk drill sample of the A-11 North pipe is planned, along with drilling of anomalies defined from an airborne geophysical survey conducted last year.

The A-11 North kimberlite lies 8 km southeast of A-418 and A-154 South. A previously reported 452.2-kg sample recovered from three holes into the pipe yielded an initial 117 macros and 206 micros.

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Kennecott Canada

Kennecott Canada Exploration, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, is using a reverse-circulation drill rig to narrow down the source of a prominent indicator mineral train on the ATW Mackay Lake property, south of the Lac de Gras region. A fence of holes is being drilled perpendicular to the trend of the anomaly. Each hole will be stopped once it has passed through the till and entered into 2 to 5 metres of bedrock. The till averages 10 metres in depth and will be sampled at 1-metre intervals.

Kennecott holds a 65% interest in the property. The remaining 35% is held by ATW Resources, ownership of which is shared by Almaden Resources (AMH-V) with 40%, Troymin Resources (TYR-A) with 20%, and Williams Creek Explorations (WCX-V) with 40%.

The rig is expected to move to the WI property on the north shore of Lac de Gras, where another indicator mineral train will be followed up with two fences of holes. Kennecott can earn a 51% interest in the claim block, with DHK Resources holding a 28.6% interest and SouthernEra Resources (SUF-T) holding the remaining 20.4%.

Ownership of DHK is shared equally b
y Dentonia Resources (DTA-V), Horseshoe Gold Mining (hsx-a) and Kettle River Resources (KRR-T).

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SouthernEra

A drilling program on Munn Lake, northeast of Camsell Lake, is planned by SouthernEra in early April. A 1997 summer program on the Back Lake project revealed weathered clay kimberlite during follow-up sampling on a strong indicator mineral train. This train is one of six indicator mineral trains identified in the Munn Lake area.

However, a 6-hole drilling program intersected only kimberlite dykes ranging in width from 0.1 to 1.5 metres in four of the holes. A follow-up surface pit sampling program on the kimberlite exposure recovered 62 macros and 164 micros from a 666-kg sample of weathered, green clay kimberlite. The largest stone weighed 0.12 carat, and five of the diamonds weighed 0.01 carat or better.

It is believed that the likely source area of the Yuri kimberlite find is Munn Lake. The Back Lake project is held 70% by SouthernEra, 19.38% by Kalahari Resources (KLA-V) and 10.62% by Island-Arc Resources (IAR-V).