A season’s worth of drilling has led
Under a deal inked in June, the nickel giant stood to earn a 65% stake in the land package by spending up to US$3 million before the end of 2008. A second deal in August paved the way for Inco to pick up a 51% interest in another 410 sq. km worth of land held under a joint venture between DFI and state-owned Nuna Minerals by spending another $1 million.
Inco’s 2005 drilling campaign tested nickel showings and geophysical targets outlined by DFI during the previous two seasons. DFI says Inco felt the results were not encouraging and the major will not retain any interest in the land package.
Further, DFI says it is reviewing its own data together with Inco’s report to determine if further exploration is warranted. A decision is expected in about two months.
The Ammassalik project covers some 634 sq. km of gneiss and supracrustal rocks within an igneous diorite complex composed of three separate plutons and exposed for more than 500 km. The rocks on the land package contain banded iron formation and pods of serpentinized ultramafic rocks similar to those found within Manitoba’s Thompson nickel belt in terms of age, structure, geochemistry and petrography.
The initial discovery at Ammassalik was the result of a chip-sampling program on the deeply weathered surface of a mineralized outcrop. The sampling yielded average grades of 1% nickel and 0.3% copper as well as significant quantities of platinum group metals, gold and silver.
Geophysical surveying subsequently identified a trail of ultramafic pods over a distance of 2.5 km between two mineralized outcrops. Field observations also confirmed a second, thin layer of ultramafic pods at a higher level within the stratigraphy and initial field work traced nickel-bearing massive sulphide boulders in scree for over 9 km along strike.
On a brighter note, Diamond Fields has turned up its first kimberlite outcrop at the Camp Alpha prospect on its Grand Cape project in western Liberia.
The outcrop occurs on the margin of a swampy area measuring around 3 hectares. Sampling on a grid measuring 1 km by 1 km yielded favourable G10 garnets. The company believes the swampy depression may represent a pipe structure.
A second nearby sampling grid identified a nearly continuous 3-km-long trail of kimberlite indicator minerals believed to represent a dyke or series of sub-parallel dykes.
Further sample results are expected by mid-January. Follow-up ground geophysics and drilling is planned for both areas.
DFI says that reconnaissance-scale stream sediment sampling over about 45% of the property has also returned G10 garnets, with 10 high-priority targets outlined so far.
The 1,095-sq.-km Grand Cape exploration licence is underlain by the Archean-aged Guinea shield. It is also adjacent to
Pitting by Mano on indicator mineral anomalies recently identified two new kimberlites on its MCA licence. Dubbed Alpha-2 and Alpha-3, the kimberlites are situated 350 metres north and 10 km south of the previously reported Alpha-1 kimberlite. Mano believes Alpha-3 may represent a pipe; the areas surrounding both new finds have been subject to extensive shallow artisanal diamond mining.
More recently Alpha-1 was proved diamondiferous, with a 95-kg sample yielding 16 diamonds, including 4 macrodiamonds (defined here as stones exceeding 0.5 mm in at least one dimension). The four macros weigh in at 0.018 carat, with the largest measuring 1.37 by 1.11 by 0.37 mm and classified as white, transparent, and octahedral.
The MCA project is a joint venture held 30% by the government of Liberia and 70% by the company. In addition to diamonds, the 15,000-sq.-km land package is prospective for gold and base metals.
Back at Grand Cape, DFI is in the midst of lining up drill targets on what it believes is a shear-hosted gold system. Work on the Henry Town gold showings includes reconnaissance soil, grid and trench sampling. The weathered regolith, which is up to 15 metres thick, is currently surrendering coarse gold to artisanal miners.
Meanwhile, at the 718-sq.-km Grand Gedeh property in central Liberia, initial sampling has outlined a 1.6-km-long gold-in-soil anomaly. So far, work has focused on 5 sq. km around the Barteajam artisanal workings, which have been operating continuously since 1945.
Further sampling is planned, as Barteajam covers less than 1% of the total concession area. Early results include visible gold in samples from the northwest corner of the property, closer to the Cestos Shear.
Meanwhile, in the boardroom, DFI has appointed Darren McDonald to replace outgoing chief financial officer, Kenneth Hecker, who resigned at the end of 2005. Hecker also left his post as chief operating officer and secretary.
In December, DFI’s Cape Town-based director of operations, Roger Daniel, replaced Gregg Sedun as president and chief executive. Sedun stepped down from the dual roles to pursue other endeavours.
The management changes are part of DFI’s decision to move its head office from Vancouver to Cape Town, South Africa, in order to cut overhead costs.
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