SouthernEra recovers gems

The first hole drilled into the Sue kimberlite pipe in the Northwest Territories has yielded 95 diamonds for SouthernEra Resources (SUF-T).

Sue is part of the Yamba Lake property, in which SouthernEra can earn a 60% interest by completing a bankable feasibility study before 2007. This would leave Tanqueray Resources (TQY-V) and Mill City International (MIY-V) with 16% each, and Techsite Strategies (TSS-V), formerly Cypango Ventures, with 8%.

The recent haul includes 18 macrodiamonds, that is, stones exceeding 0.5 mm in at least one direction. Eleven of the macros have two dimensions exceeding that limit, and the largest stone measures 1.44 by 1.10 by 1.04 mm. Most of the stones are white.

The hole also turned up 30 microdiamonds, after the drilled material was sieved through a screen having a 0.15-mm mesh bottom. The number grew to 77 micros when the size of the screen’s bottom was squeezed to 0.106 mm mesh.

In all, the angled hole cut 172 metres of kimberlite to provide 226.7 kg of sample. The hole ended in kimberlite.

The Sue pipe is one of seven known kimberlite pipes at Yamba Lake. It measures about 150 by 100 metres at surface.

SouthernEra plans to sink three more holes into the pipe over the course of the summer. The holes are intended to define the pipe’s structure and provide a larger sample to determine the stone-size distribution.

Plans also call for drilling on Yamba’s other kimberlites, as well as a new geophysical target identified during last year’s exploration program.

After earning its interest, SouthernEra can boost its stake to 65% by arranging 100% of the required capital costs determined by the bankable feasibility study. The remaining interests of the other parties would shrink proportionately.

The 61-claim, 617-sq.-km property was explored by BHP Billiton (BHP-N) until the mid-1990s, but drilling failed to produce sufficiently encouraging results: 19 stones weighing 0.635 carat had been recovered from 24.5 tonnes of the Torrie pipe, and sampling of the Ptarmigan pipe came back empty.

BHP Billiton is still active in the region, principally at its producing Ekati diamond mine, about 40 km to the south.

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