Vancouver — Drill results from Patrician Diamonds’ (PXC-V, PCGDF-O) Sahtu project, in the McKenzie River Valley region of the Northwest Territories, disheartened investors and prompted a sell-off in the stock following a lack of recovered diamonds and kimberlitic indicator minerals.
With field work now completed at Sahtu, only a 6.1-kg sample from the Hillside diatreme returned a number of picroilmenite grains but no other indicator minerals or diamonds. The altered and weathered bedrock was processed at SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories, where Patrician has now sent a larger sample of the diatreme for testing. The picroilmenites from the first sample have been sent for microprobe analysis.
The company interprets a magnetic anomaly at Hillside measuring several hectares as an ultramafic intrusive breccia of possible kimberlitic origin.
The drill program used a small helicopter-portable auger rig that failed to reach bedrock on a number of the other targets due to its depth potential and the till overburden thickness.
In a few holes, semi-consolidated mudstones interpreted as pre-glacial and possibly Cretaceous were encountered. Samples were sent to SRC for analysis.
Shares of Patrician shed 35% on TSX Venture trading on Aug. 24, dropping a dime to close at 18.5 apiece on strong volume of almost 5.8 million. Patrician stock trades in a 52-week range of 5 to 33.
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