Winspear unable to locate Snap Lake feeder

Despite having completed a $3.2-million winter diamond exploration program in the Northwest Territories, Winspear Resources (WSP-V) has yet to ferret out a feeder system at Snap Lake.

The bulk of the 6,012 metres of drilling completed on the Haywood project (part of the Camsell Lake property) was directed to the Snap Lake area in an attempt to find a source, or feeder zone, for a complex diamond-bearing kimberlite dyke and breccia system that extends over roughly 16 sq. km.

A total of 22 holes encountered narrow intervals of kimberlite, including kimberlite breccia material ranging up to 5 metres in thickness. Kimberlite dyke material up to 2.8 metres in thickness was found over a wide area beneath the eastern half of Snap Lake.

The winter program also included the extraction of a 200-tonne bulk sample from a shallow-dipping kimberlite dyke found on a peninsula jutting into the northwestern part of Snap Lake. Equal amounts of material were collected from two sites about 250 metres apart. Preliminary results of the bulk sample are expected to be available in about eight weeks.

The dyke on the peninsula was intersected by previous drilling over a strike length of 1,000 metres and a downdip length of 500 metres. Its true thickness averages 2.47 metres. Past drilling yielded 149 macrodiamonds and 252 micros from a 137.4-kg composite sample. (A macro is defined here as exceeding 0.5 mm in at least one dimension.)

The downdip nature of the dyke was further tested during the winter program by two holes that intersected kimberlite dyke material some 1,100 metres east of the most easterly hole drilled in 1997.

The Haywood project is currently held 57.3% by Winspear and 42.7% by Aber Resources (ABZ-T). The project covers 112,000 ha of the Camsell Lake property, and includes both the Snap Lake and CL-25 areas.

Immediately west of, and contiguous with the Haywood block, is the 28,732-ha Athenia project, held 55% by Winspear and 45% by Aber. An additional 1,109 metres of drilling tested a number of geophysical targets. The Camsell Lake property is south of the Lac de Gras region and about 220 km northeast of Yellowknife.

Winspear is planning a summer field program for the 38,040-ha Carat joint-venture property and the wholly-owned 79,317-ha Hilltop property.

Under an option agreement with Tyler Resources (TYS-T), Winspear can earn up to a 70% interest in the Carat property, which adjoins the northern boundary of the Ekati mine property, now under development. The Hilltop property is southwest of the Camsell Lake property.