Vancouver — With an approved budget of $4.8 million in hand, the Fort la Corne joint-venture partners expect the drill to be turning on the Saskatchewan diamond project by June 27.
De Beers Canada Exploration, Kensington Resources (KRT-V) and Cameco (CCO-T) are gearing up to initially drill 16 holes into the 140, 141 and 150 kimberlite bodies.
These holes will help pinpoint the location for a second round of drilling, using a larger, 24-inch-diameter reverse-circulation (RC) machine. Mini-bulk samples will be collected from eight RC holes into kimberlite 141 in order to recover a larger parcel of diamonds for valuation.
A 251.8-tonne bulk sample from the 141 kimberlite returned 21.06 carats of diamonds. Based on the limited results, De Beers modelled a grade of 18 carats per 100 tonnes, with a best-fit value of US$153 per carat, or US$28 per tonne. The 141 body is estimated to contain 395 million tonnes of kimberlite.
Kimberlite 150 will be tested with two large-diameter RC holes. The body has a predicted grade of 16 carats per 100 tonnes. It shows good potential for larger diamonds.
The 255-sq.-km Fort la Corne project lies east of Price Albert and hosts 69 confirmed kimberlites. Forty-nine of the bodies are diamondiferous and 34 have yielded stones larger than 1 mm in at least one dimension.
De Beers and Kensington each hold a 42.25% stake in the project. Cameco and its wholly owned subsidiary, UEM, hold the remaining 15.5%.
De Beers Canada is a subsidiary of South African-based De Beers Consolidated Mines.
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