With diamond fever rising throughout much of North America, several juniors are pinning their hopes on a remote section of the Rocky Mountains near the Colorado-Wyoming state line.
One such company, Colorado Diamond, 25%-owned by Redaurum Red Lake Mines (TSE), is exploring a 324-hectare property near Colorado’s Kelsey Lake. The property contains a cluster of diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes. Two relatively large pipes, comprising a total of 8.9 hectares, and six smaller pipes define the cluster.
The kimberlites, thought to be Devonian in age (390 million years old), are highly altered and deeply weathered.
As part of its evaluation, Colorado Diamond is using a mobile rotary pan plant to process alluvial material associated with the kimberlites. Under the current program, 1,560 tonnes of alluvial material have been sampled, yielding several gem-quality diamonds. The largest weighs 6.2 carats. The 6.2-carat stone is believed to be the largest gem-quality diamond ever found in the region.
To date, 268 diamonds larger than 2 mm in size have been recovered from kimberlite and alluvial samples on the Kelsey Lake property. Of these, 60% are of gem quality, and 25% are more than 1 carat in weight. The total weight of stones recovered is 54.76 carats.
Colorado Diamond has advised Redaurum it plans to construct a larger pilot plant this winter. The new plant will enable the company to prepare for a 100,000-tonne trial mining program scheduled to begin in April, 1994.
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