Twin drilling cuts kimberlite at Freightrain

Drilling has cut 122 metres of kimberlite on the Freightrain prospect on the Jackson Inlet property at Baffin Island in Nunavut.

Twin Mining (TWG-T) recovered core from nine holes, which ranged in length from 21 to 155 metres. Two were angled at minus 50 and a third at minus 60. The rest were drilled vertically. They were the first holes to test the pipe at depth.

Once logging of the independently examined core is completed, it will be sampled and shipped to Lakefield Research for microdiamond analysis.

Twin is excavating the fifth of six planned sample pits. The company will recover about 30-100 tonnes of fresh bedrock kimberlite from each pit to determine the macrodiamond distribution along a 500-metre section on the Freightrain pipe. The test-pit samples will also be shipped to Lakefield Research.

Recently, Antwerp-based Diamond Trading N.V. provided Twin with a glowing assessment of 86 diamonds found in an 18.41-tonne sample from Freightrain. The Belgian firm, a minority shareholder of Twin, suggests that the stones are of better quality than diamonds from Canadian and South African mines (T.N.M. Aug. 6-12).

The sample reportedly yielded no boart (industrial diamonds), or other types of low-grade and low-yield diamonds. Typically, primary kimberlite deposits contain far more industrial and poor-quality stones than gems and near-gems. They also contain far more small stones than large ones.

To date, 892 diamonds have been derived from the Freightrain pipe. Earlier this year, a 16.5-tonne sample returned 74 stones in excess of 1 mm weighing 3.084 carats. A 1.9-tonne sample, from a site 100 metres distant, yielded 12 diamonds weighing 0.56 carat. Sampling guidelines were established by MPH Consulting. Processing procedures were monitored by MRDI Canada.

Elsewhere on the property, drilling in early August uncovered Cargo 1, a kimberlite. It is located 4.2 km to the northeast of Freightrain.

The company recovered 83.2 metres of kimberlite from the first hole into magnetic anomaly no. 3. Angled at minus 70, the hole encountered kimberlite from 43 to 126.2 metres down-hole before stopping in limestone at 152 metres. Cargo 1 has a geophysical signature that measures 140 metres in diameter.

Exploration, delineation, deep drilling and a larger-scale sampling program are planned for the two pipes. The company is also negotiating for a second, larger drill rig to enable deeper drilling to a depth of 300 metres.

Twin also expects to shortly resume exploration of the Torngat kimberlite system in the Alluviaq Fjord area of northern Quebec. The company plans a program of detailed sampling on a 4.5-km-long section north of the Alluviaq Fjord.

Depending on the results of that sampling, Twin will look at taking a 10-tonne kimberlite sample. This would be followed by a sample of several hundred tonnes to establish the macro-diamond distribution.