The Cygnus pipe appears to represent a flat-lying, sill-like body perhaps 20 metres thick, capped by 35 metres of granite overlain by 11 metres of glacial till. Microdiamond analysis is being carried out at Ashton’s lab in North Vancouver.
The new pipe was found near the Aquila kimberlite, which yielded three macros and 16 microdiamonds from 125 kg of core in the first two holes (a macro is defined as exceeding 0.5 mm in at least one dimension). Results from at least 150 kg of further sampling were never released.
The 19.4-sq.-km Roundrock property is 130 km west of the Ekati diamond mine. The remaining interest in the property is held 24.5% by
Ashton is also active in the Buffalo Hills region of north-central Alberta, where it discovered a new field of kimberlites poking up through a young sediment cover. The company has discovered 35 kimberlites in the area since early 1997, including three this past winter.
Says outgoing president John Austin: “We keep at it in Alberta because an unusually large proportion of those kimberlites have diamonds, and history tells us that, elsewhere in the world, it is not at all uncommon to find one or two economic pipes among many pipes that are weakly diamondiferous or not diamondiferous at all. This is a good place to keep looking, in hopes that one of these pipes comes up a winner.
“Only about 14% of the kimberlites known in the world carry diamonds,” he adds, “and, of those, a very very few percent are actually economic.”
The Buffalo Hills project is a joint venture among Ashton and
Ashton also plans a summer program in the Superior Craton of northern Quebec. Previous reconnaissance work was carried out with 50% partner
“We think it’s an area where there will be a lot of activity over the next few years,” says Austin. “And we intend to be well-placed.”
Ashton Mining of Canada is 61%-owned by Australian-based
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