At the northern tip of Baffin Island,
The partners followed several boulder trains to their termination in lakes flanked by kimberlite outcrops. By collecting stream-sediment samples, the crew located four separate boulder trains.
“They traced the train back up-ice to the cluster,” says Mountain Province Chairman Paul Shatzko. “It was so easy, it’s almost embarrassing.”
The crew benefited from the local geology, which features thin glacial sediments, plus a large amount of outcrop that allows kimberlitic rocks to stand out against lighter-coloured granites. Crews also were able to identify indicator minerals (mainly ecolgitic and peridotitic garnets) from samples at camp, rather than send them away for analysis, thereby speeding up the discovery process. The companies began their field program in mid-July and had favourable results in hand by early August.
The largest discovery measured almost 3 ha, with kimberlite cropping out on three of the four sides of the oval lake. Geologists also found a separate kimberlite outcrop 30 metres from the lake.
Two of the four trains also terminated in lakes, with each train measuring about 700 metres long. The source of the fourth train, about 6 km from the others, has yet to be found.
Mountain Province and Opus have already collected 25-kg samples from each outcrop and larger samples (up to 100 kg) from selected outcrops. These have been sent to Lakefield Research in Ontario for caustic fusion and microprobe analysis to determine the presence of microdiamonds.
The new discovery is said to lie 70-80 km from Breakwater Resources’s Nanisivik zinc mine, and the partners are still acquiring land in the area.
Mountain Province signed a joint-venture agreement to explore and develop Opus’s claims at the northern end of Baffin Island. To earn a half-interest, the company needed to spend $300,000, though its expenditures already exceed $400,000.
Opus acquired prospecting permits to 95,000 ha on the northern end of Baffin island in January.
Opus spokesman William Jarvis says the area is prospective because weakly diamondiferous kimberlites are known to exist on the western end of the island, on the Brodeur Peninsula, as well as across the Prince Regent Inlet on Somerset Island. Various exploration companies have also found diamonds on the western coast of Greenland. Geophysical studies support the findings, suggesting that Baffin Island sits over a thick cool mantle (believed to be a prerequisite for diamondiferous kimberlites).
Mountain Province and Opus plan to conduct an airborne geophysical survey, starting possibly as soon as this year, followed by drilling in 2000.
Mountain Province already has a joint venture with
Monopros, the Canadian exploration division of
Also, Monopros recently paid $2.5 million for a 51% interest in a 3% gross royalty from Mountain Province and Camphor on any production from AK/CJ.
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