Among the 1,215 carats of diamond De Beers Canada Exploration recently reported from the 2002 bulk sample of the western and central lobes of the 5034 pipe on the AK claims in the Northwest Territories, were three stones that weighed in at 7, 6.6 and 5.9 carats, respectively.
De Beers sank a total of six large diameter holes, two clusters of three holes, into the centre and west lobes of the 5034 pipe, which comprises four lobes — East, Centre, West and North. The first three lobes are all about the same size with estimated indicated resources to 300 metres running more than 2.5 million tonnes of kimberlite each.
De Beers collected 437 tonnes of kimberlite from three holes, collared 6.5 metres apart, on the Western lobe. The sample surrendered 843 carats of diamond for an average grade of 1.93 carats per tonne. Previously, a nearby 49.9-tonne sample from the lobe returned 92.6 carats for an average grade of 1.89 carats per tonne.
The three holes on the Centre lobe (6-7 metres apart) yielded 371.9 carats from 399.2 tonnes of kimberlite, for an average of 0.93 carats per tonne, slightly less than previously encountered. The lobe contains a lower-grade zone in its western portion.
In all, the latest 836 tonnes of kimberlite returned 70 stones tipping the scales at plus-1 carat, including 21 diamonds exceeding 2 carats. Another 161 stones rang in between 0.5 and 1 carat. Bulk samples from the pipe in 1999 and 2001 returned 42 and 34 stones greater than 1 carat. Those samples came predominantly from the East lobe and contained a total of 1,919 carats, with 20 stones greater than 2 carats – the largest weighing 10 carats.
The 5034 kimberlite pipe is one of the largest of the five diamondiferous bodies in the cluster at Kennady Lake, which is located on the joint-venture’s AK claims. The claims are shared by De Beers, with a 51% stake, Mountain Province Diamonds (MPV-T), with 44.1%, and Camphor Ventures (CFV-V), at 4.9%. De Beers can boost its interest up to 60% by advancing the project to commercial production.
The diamonds are headed to the Diamond Trading Company in London for valuation. The partners hope the increased proportion of larger stones will help boost the modeled rate of return for mining the Hearne, 5034 and Tuzo diamond-bearing pipes, which was previously determined to fall 15% short of the needed level to proceed to feasibility.
The results from bulk sampling of the Hearne pipe are expected in several weeks.
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