The hunt for diamonds in Canada is still hot, hot, hot. There appear to be promising kimberlite pipes in Quebec, Ontario and Nunavut. Here is the latest news from four projects.
Vancouver-based ASHTON MINING, which is testing the Foxtrot property in north-central Quebec, estimates that samples totalling 49.8 tonnes from the north end of the Renard 4 kimberlite tested 101 cpht (carats per 100 tonnes). Better yet, it anticipates that the 2,000-tonne sample it plans to collect from the Northern zone this year will return 2,000 ct of diamonds. The Foxtrot project is a 50:50 joint venture of Ashton and SOQUEM. (www.Ashton.ca)
DIAMONDS NORTH RESOURCES of Vancouver has received results from its King Eider kimberlite. A 3,328-kg sample (part of which was taken by previous operator TECK COMINCO) yielded a 0.31-ct stone as well as 18 others that exceed the 0.85-mm screen mesh. However, overall the results were erratic and a larger sample needs to be collected. King Eider is part of the Victoria Island project, 100% owned by Diamonds North, in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. (www.DiamondsNorthResources.com)
Vancouver's STORNOWAY DIAMOND CORP. and partners BHP BILLITON (20%) and HUNTER EXPLORATION GROUP (10%) have sampled the AV6 kimberlite at the Aviat project on the Melville Peninsula (eastern Nunavut) and found it to average 97 cpht. A single stone recovered on the 2.36-mm sieve weighs 0.1025 ct. The eight stones recovered on the 1.70-mm sieve collectively weigh 0.5775 ct. To view pictures of the largest stones go to www.StornowayDiamonds.com and read the news release dated June 21, 2006. Further good news: a new kimberlite body has been intersected 200 metres east of the AV7 outcrop at the Aviat project.
A company doesn't have to be headquartered on the west coast to join the hunt for diamonds. DIANOR RESOURCES of Val d'Or, Quebec, is encouraged by the results from three drill holes in the Central sector of its Leadbetter property in northern Ontario. Caustic fusion tests of the 742.5-kg sample yielded nearly 2,500 diamonds, the largest of which weighs approximately 0.04 ct.
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