Consultant James Tilsley has come up with a unique analogy to explain why diamond grades vary dramatically within kimberlite pipes.
He tells the uninitiated to imagine a kimberlite pipe as a mixed bundle of carrots and parsnips with each root vegetable representing a separate phase (volcanic pulse) within the pipe.
The carrots represent diamond-bearing phases, while the parsnips represent barren phases.
He says that because most pipes contain both carrots and parsnips, it is essential that the entire pipe be sampled before a meaningful grade estimation can be made.
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