Drilling planned for Knife

A planned 5-hole drilling campaign on the newly discovered Knife kimberlite pipe, 80 km south of Coronation Bay in Nunavut, is aimed at delineating the size and internal structure of the body, while providing more information on diamond content.

De Beers Canada Exploration can earn a 70% interest in the 10-sq.-km property from Rhonda (RDM-V) by spending $10 million on exploration over six years. Last fall, representative core samples from three drill holes yielded nine macrodiamonds and 208 microdiamonds from 397 kg of kimberlite. One 20-kg sample, in particular, returned 54 stones weighing 0.04748 carat from a 6-metre interval.

A ground-based, grid-controlled magnetic and electromagnetic geophysical survey was conducted over the Knife pipe in preparation for the second round of drilling.

De Beers Exploration Canada, formerly known as Monopros, is a subsidiary of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBRSY-Q) of South Africa.