Dianor bags a big one at last (April 30, 2007)

Dianor Resources (DOR-V, RSDNF-O) has had no trouble finding small diamonds just about everywhere it looks at its massive Leadbetter deposit, 12 km northeast of Wawa, Ont., and can now celebrate the discovery of its first large one.

Dianor is reporting the recovery of a 1.52-carat diamond from sample MBP-136 during processing by Kennecott Canada at its dense media separation facility in Thunder Bay, Ont.

The diamond recovery comes from processing four 60-tonne conglomerate samples from Leadbetter. The processing is now at the diamond-picking stage and is expected to be completed by mid-May, with a full report and diamond results to follow shortly thereafter.

Dianor describes the 1.5-carat stone as a light-yellow, intact macle 7.8 mm in its longest dimension.

Previously, the largest diamond ever recovered from the Leadbetter conglomerate tipped the scales at 0.667 carat, in sample MBP-101 reported last July.

However, several diamonds greater than 1 carat have been found in the area’s alluvial material, including a 1.39-carat gem-quality stone found in a tributary of the Magpie River that drains the Leadbetter property.

The newly found 1.5-carat diamond also ranks as the largest one found in bedrock in the Wawa area.

Dianor has spent the past couple of years drilling the large, diamond-bearing Leadbetter conglomerate, and anticipates that a preliminary tonnage estimate can be unveiled soon.

Of academic note, work by geologists John Ayers of the Ontario Geological Survey and Michael Hamilton of the University of Toronto has determined that Leadbetter is the world’s oldest diamond deposit at 2.697 billion years old, predating the oldest other diamond-bearing rocks in the Wawa area by 20 million years.

The Leadbetter deposit is also considered unique in that it hosts gold, sapphires and rubies, as well as diamonds.

The property was originally staked by Joe Leadbetter, a prospector based in Wawa, who was following up reports of alluvial diamonds and diamond-indicator minerals discovered in the region in the early 1990s.

Dianor struck an option agreement with Leadbetter for the property in December 2004, and optioned the 6.46-sq.-km Leadbetter Extension property the following March. Combined, the properties cover 16 sq. km.

Under recently revised terms, Dianor can earn 90% and 80% undivided interests in the Leadbetter and Leadbetter Extension properties.