Pele busy at Festival

Three samples, weighing in at 39.4 kg, collected near the contact of pyroclastic rocks with intrusive breccias at the Cristal diamond occurrence on Pele Mountain Resources‘ (YPN-V) Festival property, 25 km north of Wawa, Ont., have yielded 159 diamonds.

Of the total, nine of the diamonds did not pass through a 425-micron sieve. Nearly 51% of the stone measure between 150 and 106 microns. Another nine samples totalling 84.9 kg returned 94 stones; only one failed to pass through the 425-micron sieve, most of the others came to rest between the 150 and 106-micron sieves.

Earlier this summer, a sample of boulder material at Cristal yielded 8 macrodiamonds. From the size and angular shape of the boulder Pele believed its bedrock source was near.

Cristal, which is accessible by road, is situated near the southern boundary of the Festival property, and measures at least 200 meters in width on the surface.

Over the last month, Pele has conducted mechanical stripping, detailed mapping and additional surface sampling at Cristal. The occurrence consists of a variety of breccias and pyroclastic facies of rock indicative of large explosive maar-like volcanic complexes. All of the facies sampled so far have returned diamonds. The breccias make up the base of the unit and the pyroclastics represent the top; ash tuffs increase in proportion towards the upper contact.

Cristal’s geology is similar to Pele’s Dom Perignon diamond occurrence where 434 diamonds (including 12 macrodiamonds) were recovered from 100 kg of pyroclastic rocks, including ash tuffs.

Dom Perignon, was found late this summer on the west side of Perch Lake. Mapping of the breccia around the showing turned up a block of older basalt, about 3 metres long by 2 metres wide, in the breccia, further supporting Pele’s belief that the breccia was formed in a violent volcanic eruption.

Early last week, Pele announced the discovery of another new diamond occurrence at Festival. Dubbed Pol Roger, it lies in the central part of the property. The company says it indicates a previously unknown northern “corridor”.

An 8-kg sample of heterolithic ultramafic breccia collected from bedrock at the occurrence yielded 37 diamonds Twenty-seven of the stones exceed a sieve size of 106 microns. The largest stone measure more than 300 microns in at least one dimension.