Monopros finds kimberlite

Winter exploration at the Victoria Island diamond project in far northern Nunavut has resulted in a significant kimberlite discovery, dubbed the Horned Lark.

Monopros, the Canadian exploration arm of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBRS-Q), made the discovery 2.5 km east of the Snowy Owl pipe, one of five kimberlite bodies found last year.

The Horned Lark kimberlite was tested with one vertical hole to a depth of 97 metres. The hole intersected 78 metres of kimberlite before being shut down in kimberlite, owing to difficult drilling conditions. Once the core has been logged in detail, the kimberlite samples will be shipped to De Beers’ lab South Africa for microdiamond analysis.

Monopros can earn a 51% interest in the Victoria Island property by spending $2 million on exploration and making cash payments totalling $200,000 over three years. Once vested, joint-venture partners Ascot Resources (AOT-V) and Major General Resources (MGJ-V) will each own a 24.5% share.

The winter program consisted of eight diamond drill holes totalling 854 metres and more than 200 line km of ground magnetic surveys. The Snowy Owl pipe was tested with four delineation holes, the deepest vertical intercept of kimberlite being 130 metres. The pipe is interpreted to have a surface expression covering 1 ha.

Monopros recovered approximately 1 tonne of kimberlite from Snowy Owl for diamond analysis. Snowy Owl had previously yielded five macros and 85 micros from 88 kg of drill sample. Monopros recently revised its microdiamond counts so that a macro is defined as equal to, or greater than 0.5 mm in at least one dimension.