Two samples, 1.4 km apart, returned kimberlite indicator mineral counts in the tens of thousands. The minerals consist mainly of ilmenites and eclogitic garnets.
“There is a probable megacrystic eclogitic population, along with a population of probable eclogitic,” says Judy Stoeterau, Rhonda’s vice-president of exploration. The same type of eclogitic garnet occurs in the Knife pipe, 11 km away, though Stoeterau says the peridotitic pyrope garnet is more plentiful there.
Rhonda recovered 10 pyrope garnets from one of the concentrated sample sites, including one that plotted in the G10 field. Microscopic examination and microprobe analyses of the mineral grains from the two sample sites indicate two separate sources nearby.
Fugro Airborne recently completed a 4,910-line-km geophysical survey over the Inulik property. Initial results show a complementary geophysical signature roughly 100 metres up-ice from one the sample sites.
Rhonda holds a core position in the heart of the newly dubbed Coronation Gulf diamond district, including a joint venture with
The Inulik property is contiguous to the Knife project and covers 364 sq. km. Rhonda has held the Inulik property for many years now, previously targeting base metals. Last summer, Rhonda blanketed the property with a regional grid-sampling program. Lines were run about 1 km apart, and samples were taken every 400 metres. In total, 571 glacial till samples were collected. The results from the first phase of sampling yielded several anomalous till samples. Stoeterau tells The Northern Miner that the indicator mineral dispersion trains can be fairly subtle. “A background of even one or two indicator mineral grains can be significant,” says Stoeterau. “Ten is quite significant.”
A follow-up program of prospecting, till sampling and ground geophysics will further investigate airborne anomalies, two or three questionable mineral trains, and the immediate area surrounding the two concentrated indicator mineral samples. Drilling will follow.
Meanwhile, Rhonda and De Beers continue to hammer out a joint-venture agreement concerning the Knife project, including the creation of a mutually favourable diamond sales and marketing arrangement. Until both agreements have been signed, De Beers will continue to sit on the macrodiamond results from a 9-tonne drill sample collected a year ago from the 6-hectare Knife pipe.
The Canadian exploration division of De Beers discovered the Knife pipe in spring of 2000 and recovered 208 microdiamonds and nine macros from 397 kg of tested core. (A macro is defined here as exceeding 0.5 mm in at least one dimension.) Nine holes have confirmed the pipe’s dimensions as being 390 by 230 metres.
De Beers is earning a 70% interest in the 10-sq.-km property by spending $10 million over six years and carrying Rhonda to production.
In related news, Rhonda has acquired an option to earn a half-interest in 260 sq. km of various grassroots claims in the Temagami area of northeastern Ontario. The area has yielded positive indicator minerals from stream, beach and till sampling surveys conducted by both
As part of the agreement, Rhonda subscribed to 300,000 shares of Tres-Or at 35 apiece, plus a warrant to buy a further 100,000 shares at 50 apiece. Tres-Or remains the operator.
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