Vancouver Ashton Mining of Canada (ACA-T) has recovered a stone measuring 8.8-by-8.2-by-4.8 mm from the Renard 65 kimberlitic body on the Foxtrot property in north-central Quebec.
The diamond, which remains embedded in the core, appears to be a colorless octahedral crystal with an estimated weight of at least 4 carats. Ashton uncovered the diamond was found when a sample of kimberlitic breccia was being prepared for processing through the dense media separation plant in North Vancouver.
The core containing the diamond was part of a 17 tonne mini bulk sample collected from the Renard 65 kimberlite during the winter program. Complete analysis of the sample is expected by the end of July.
Ashton is operating the Foxtrot project — a 50-50 joint venture with Soquem, which has been exploring the northern half of Quebec for diamonds since 1996. The partners have found a new field of highly diamondiferous kimberlites in the Otish Mountains, 275 km northeast of Chibougamau.
In September 2001, results from heavy sampling and geophysical surveys led to the drill-testing of four anomalies on the Foxtrot property and the discovery of two diamond-bearing kimberlitic intrusions: Renard 1 and Renard 2. Since then, Ashton has drilled 16 targets and discovered nine kimberlitic bodies in the Renard cluster. All nine kimberlites are relatively small and occur within an elongated 1.5-km-long area. With the exception of Renard 1 and 7, seven of the bodies are tightly grouped inside a core area measuring less than half a square kilometre (or about 50 hectares).
Delineation drilling on Renard 5 and 6 in the winter of 2003 determined that the two kimberlites are in fact a single body, now known as Renard 65. The combined body averages a width of 60 metres over a strike length of at least 300 metres and covers a surface area of 1.5 hectares. The deepest hole ended in kimberlite at a depth of 294 metres.
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