At the WO claim block in the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories, Kennecott Canada has begun a large-diameter drill program on the land-based DO-18 kimberlite pipe.
The claims are held 40% by Kennecott, 35% by DHK Resources, 15% by Aber Resources (TSE) and 10% by SouthernEra Resources (TSE). Ownership of DHK is split equally among Dentonia Resources (VSE), Horseshoe Gold Mining (ASE) and Kettle River Resources (TSE).
If Kennecott elects to exercise an option to increase its interest to 51%, DHK’s interest will shrink to 27.6% and Aber’s to 12.3%.
Terms of the option call for Kennecott to make certain additional expenditures and pay a cash bonus of $5 million to Aber and DHK upon a positive production decision.
Kennecott intends to extract a 10-tonne sample of the DO-18 pipe from two holes drilled to a depth of 250-400 metres. The sample will be processed at the company’s diamond recovery plant in Yellowknife, N.W.T.
The DO-18 pipe was previously tested with six delineation holes, which recovered 102 macrodiamonds and 575 micros from 1,349.4 kg of drill core. It is estimated to contain 30 million tonnes to a depth of 300 metres.
The diamonds are said to be higher in quality than those recovered from the nearby DO-27 pipe, Tli Kwi Cho, which lies 300 metres south of DO-16.
Tli Kwi Cho was the focus of a disappointing program of underground bulk sampling. The results triggered a massive market selloff of diamond exploration stocks in the summer of 1994.
Kennecott extracted 4,261 tonnes of kimberlite from two distinct phases of Tli Kwi Cho. A total of 1,258 tonnes of diatreme material yielded 226 macros weighing 16.4 carats for an average grade of 0.013 carat per tonne. The stones were valued at $33.50 per carat equating to 43.6 cents per tonne.
The pyroclastic phase, represented by 3,003 tonnes of material, yielded 13,888 macros weighing 1,079 carats, for an average grade of 0.359 carat per tonne. The diamonds averaged a value of $21.70 per carat, or $7.79 per tonne.
Be the first to comment on "THE DIAMOND PAGE — Kennecott proceeds with bulk sample"