EXPLORATION – Canabrava, Paramount continue diamond search

The downturn in resource markets has prompted Teck (TEK-T) to withdraw from its diamond joint venture with Canabrava Diamond (CNB-V).

Having regained 100% of the Brazilian project, Canabrava is reviewing options for its future development. Two majors have expressed interest, and discussions for a new partnership are expected to begin shortly.

In the meantime, Canabrava is continuing work at its other Brazilian properties and at the Whitefish Lake, Kap and Rocky Island Lake projects in northern Ontario.

At Whitefish Lake, results from this past summer’s work confirmed the discovery of two kimberlite occurrences. One is these is described as a dyke that outcrops, while the second is “float material associated with a well-defined indicator mineral plume.”

Canabrava says these discoveries raise to four the number of kimberlites confirmed. The bodies were tested by a short drill program completed in July, though no microdiamonds were recovered from a 158-kg sample of kimberlite recovered from the narrow dyke. However, follow-up sampling and prospecting revealed a plume of indicator minerals and float material up-ice from the dyke, indicating the presence of other bodies nearby. The second body tested did not return any kimberlite, though more boulders of kimberlite float were found near the target site.

Canabrava is awaiting results from its summer program of geochemical sampling, which tested 12 targets identified in 1997. The results will be used to guide a winter program of ground geophysics and drilling.

Canabrava and partner Paramount Ventures & Finance (PVF-V) are awaiting results of sampling carried out at their equally owned Kap project, situated along the western margin of the Kapuskasing structural zone on the Superior Craton in north-central Ontario.

The companies also are partners at the nearby Rocky Island Lake project, where reconaissance sampling was recently completed. Canabrava and Paramount report that preliminary results are “encouraging” and that “potential kimberlite indicator minerals” have been recovered from more than half of the 537 samples identified to date. Several ultramafic bodes have been identified from geological records of historical work and may be tested in future programs.

Paramount also is a partner at the North Bahia diamond project in Brazil, where a first-phase sampling program recently tested the Redondao kimberlite. Representative samples are being processed at a Canadian laboratory.

Meanwhile, field crews are testing the Macapa project in Amapa state, an area that has produced gem-quality diamonds from alluvial deposits in streams and rivers. Geophysical data have revealed circular magnetic anomalies, which will be tested to determine if they represent source pipes for diamonds. More reconnaissance exploration is planned.