Drilling to begin at Whitefish Lake and Kap properties

Rory Moore, president of Canabrava Diamond (CNB-V), is hoping the sparkle of newly discovered diamonds will once again light up his career.

The South African geochemist came to North American prominence in the early 1990s, when he worked side by side with geologist Charles Fipke during the initial drill-testing of diamondiferous kimberlites in the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories. Moore subsequently left BHP Diamonds to take the helm of Canabrava, which is now exploring for diamonds in Brazil and Canada, both independently and through major joint ventures.

The most closely watched projects at the moment are Canabrava’s wholly owned Whitefish Lake project and its 50%-owned Kap and Rocky Island Lake projects, all of which are near Wawa in northern Ontario. Paramount Ventures & Finance (pvf-v) holds the remaining half-interest in the latter two projects.

Kennecott Canada Exploration, a unit of mining giant Rio Tinto (RTP-N), can earn 60% interests in the Whitefish Lake, KAP and Rocky Island Lake properties. To do so, it must spend $25 million on exploration over seven years, or advance one of the projects to the point where a production decision can be made.

Encouraged by results to date, Kennecott plans to begin diamond drilling later this month on the Whitefish Lake and KAP properties. The program will target high-resolution magnetic geophysical anomalies on the Whitefish Lake property and any new anomalies identified by four ground geophysical teams currently running surveys over Whitefish Lake and Kap.

At Whitefish Lake, two kimberlite dykes are know to occur, as are abundant kimberlite float-boulders and indicator minerals. One of the dykes was tested by limited drilling but failed to return any diamonds. Using a combination of geophysical anomalies and indicator mineral results, Kennecott geophysicists are currently modeling the anomalies, in preparation for the upcoming drilling.

Canabrava is owned 53.9% by Southwestern Gold (SWG-T).

Numerous indicator minerals have been discovered on both the KAP and Rocky Island Lake properties, and many nearby ultramafic bodies remain untested. More exploration on these properties is planned for the spring and summer.