Ashton slides on Renard 65 results

Shares in Ashton Mining of Canada (ACA-T) were off 13, or about 10%, at $1.15 in mid-afternoon trading in Toronto on Sept. 3, after the company released disappointing results from a 122.5-tonne sample from the Renard 65 kimberlitic body on the Foxtrot property, 400 km northeast of Chibougamau.

The sample, derived from reverse-circulation (RC) drilling, managed to yield just 0.22 carat per tonne. The two largest diamonds weigh in at 0.83 and 0.82 carat, and are described as brown and pale brown dodecahedral crystals.

In mid-August, a 17.8-tonne sample form Renard 65 surrendered 0.23 carat per tonne; a year earlier, an 18.4-tonne sample returned an average of 0.54 carat per tonne, including a 4-carat diamond that remains embedded in a piece of drill core.

The two more recent samples include only those diamonds retained by a 1.18 mm square aperture screen; the higher-grade 18.4-tonne sample was run through a 0.85 mm square mesh, thereby retaining smaller stones.

The latest sample represents about 77% of the total material processed from Renard 65, and was collected via 5 RC holes along a 130 metre long north-south section. The holes tested to an average depth of 160 metres; all ended while still cutting kimberlite. Ashton plans to sink a sixth hole at the north end of Renard 65.

So far, some 159 tonnes of material from Renard 65 has yielded an average estimated diamond content of 0.26 carat per tonne. That’s the lowest diamond content of the recently bulk-sampled Renard 2, 3, 4 and 65 cluster of kimberlite bodies.

The latest sample is part of an $18-million bulk-sampling and exploration program with equal partner Soquem (Socit Qubcoise d’exploration minire). The program is primarily focussed on the Foxtrot property. The aim is to collect 600 tonnes of kimberlitic material from Renard 2, 3, 4 and 65, which the partners say should yield a cumulative parcel of at least 300 carats of diamonds for preliminary valuation.

Further plans for Renard 65 will await the results from bulk sampling on Renard 2, 3 and 4, the valuation of the diamonds recovered from the four bodies, and the extent of any new discoveries on the property.

Diamond results from 90 tonnes of core and RC material collected from Renard 4 are expected in October. Previously, a 15.1-tonne sample of Renard 4 yielded an average estimated diamond content of 0.53 carat per tonne (employing a 0.85 mm mesh). The partners also plan to soon drill test several geophysical anomalies associated with indicator minerals and kimberlitic cobbles and boulders elsewhere on the property.