DIAMOND PAGE — Monopros, GMD team at Royce claims

Based on data from till sampling and geophysical surveys on the Royce Group diamond claims in the Northwest Territories, Monopros has decided to enter into a joint-venture agreement with GMD Resource (GMD-V).

The 499,416-acre land package lies 150 km northwest of Yellowknife.

Monopros, the exploration arm of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBRS-Q), can earn an initial 51% interest by spending at least $16 million on exploration by April 30, 2004. It then can elect to boost its stake to 60% by performing a feasibility study.

A till-sampling program in 1995-97 enabled GMD to define four dispersion trains of indicator minerals. During follow-up work in 1998, more than 90 till samples were collected down-ice in an effort to test the prospectivity of 14 of the top-ranked 21 anomalies interpreted from a Dighem magnetic and electromagnetic survey.

The samples were initially treated and separated into two fractions of heavy mineral concentrates at Kennecott Canada Exploration’s laboratory in Thunder Bay, Ont., before being shipped to Lakefield Research for indicator mineral analysis. Additional microprobe analysis of selected grains was conducted by R.L. Barnett Geological.

GMD reports that the samples yielded anomalous concentrations of kimberlite indicator minerals, and, moreover, that two of the target areas are strongly anomalous. Results from one of these areas suggest that a potential kimberlite source is close by.

Indicator minerals picked from one of the fine-grained grained samples (+0.25 to -0.5 mm) include 50 pyrope garnets, 20 ilmenites, 20 chromites, 10 olivines and 15 chrome diopsides. The coarse-grained fraction data (+0.5 to -1 mm) support the analysis, with one sample yielding 15 pyrope garnets (peridotitic and eclogitic), 20 ilmenites, 20 olivines, five chromites and three chrome diopsides.

Some of the peridotitic garnets from the coarse fractions are said to have “orange peel” textures with a magnesium-iron-aluminum silicate coating. This suggests a proximal source, as the observed textures and coatings would not have survived in an environment of excessive transport or fluvial reworking.

Microprobe analysis has confirmed the presence of separate and unique populations of anomalous concentrations of indicator minerals, suggesting that multiple sources may exist within the dispersion trains.

Monopros plans to define drill targets by carrying out a summer program of till sampling, mapping and helicopter geophysics.

Doyle Lake

Meanwhile, the De Beers subsidiary has assumed operatorship of the Doyle Lake diamond project, also in the Northwest Territories.

Situated immediately south of the Kennady Lake camp, the project is a 60-40 joint venture between Monopros and Gerle Gold (GGL-V). This spring, Gerle tested six target areas in and around Blob Lake by putting down 15 drill holes. None of the holes encountered kimberlite. The targets were defined by a combination of geophysical, structural and lake-sediment geochemical anomalies.

Despite the lack of drilling success, Gerle is confident that the Blob Lake area is the most likely source of an extensive indicator mineral train that incorporates a large number of G-10 pyrope garnets which have chemical compositions indicative of diamondiferous kimberlites.

Blob Lake is 1 km southwest of the Kennady Lake cluster of pipes, which are part of a joint venture between Monopros, Mountain Province Mining (MPV-T) and Camphor Ventures (CFV-V). Blob Lake straddles the LA 5 and LA 6 claims, which comprise part of the Doyle Lake project.

Monopros has budgeted a $500,000 exploration program for Doyle Lake in 1999, consisting of indicator mineral sampling and ground geophysics.