More macros for Diamonds North (April 30, 2007)

Vancouver — Diamonds North Resources’ (DDN-V, DDNFF-O) Char kimberlite, on its Amaruk property in the Pelly Bay diamond district of Nunavut, has yielded 178 diamonds from a 159.35-kg sample, including a half-dozen macro-sized stones.

The Char kimberlite sample was extracted from a single reverse-circulation (RC) drill hole completed to a depth of about 59 metres. The pipe has an estimated size of about 1.5 hectares based on geophysics.

Diamonds North says three-quarters of the recovered stones are octahedral in shape and 88% are classified as white. The macro-sized stones are defined as having at least one dimension larger than 0.5 mm. About 14% of the diamonds were fragments — not unanticipated as significant pulverization of the sample occurs during the RC drilling process.

The three largest diamonds recovered were 0.77 by 0.77 by 0.4 mm, 0.77 by 0.4 by 0.4 mm and 0.68 by 0.4 by 0.43 mm.

The sample was a composite of RC cuttings from three intervals within the hole, the uppermost section returning the highest stone population.

Char is the second kimberlite discovered on the property to turn in a high diamond count following recently announced results from the Qavvik pipe, located about 35 km east-southeast. Qavvik returned 515 diamonds from 397 kg of kimberlite, including 15 macro-sized stones.

“Five out of five kimberlites drilled on the property are diamondiferous; two of the five kimberlites, Char and Qavvik, are highly diamondiferous, with greater than one diamond per kilogram,” said Diamonds North president and CEO Mark Kolebaba. “Amaruk may be the first big diamondiferous kimberlite field discovered in Canada since Ekati and Diavik.”

Diamonds North plans mini-bulk sampling at Qavvik and Char this upcoming season. Plans are to use a core drill rig to extract about 5-10 tonnes of kimberlite from each pipe. Core drilling is expected to mitigate diamond breakage from the use of the RC rig.

The company also received results from its Walrus and Beluga kimberlites, which turned in microdiamond counts of six stones from a 388-kg sample and three stones from 162.1 kg, respectively.

Shares of Diamonds North rallied almost 14% on the Char results, gaining 12 to close at $1.00. The company, which has traded in a 52-week range of 65-$1.30, posts a $52-million market capitalization given its 51.6 million shares outstanding.