Fort a La Corne coughs up more macrodiamonds

Vancouver — Kensington Resources (KRT-T) has tabled encouraging macrodiamond recovery results from the 2001 drilling evaluation program at the Fort a la Corne Diamond Project in Saskatchewan with joint venture partners De Beers and Cameco.

The junior diamond explorer excavated a minibulk sample totaling 889.8 tonnes of kimberlite from two separate kimberlite bodies dubbed 141 and 150. The sample was processed for macrodiamonds greater than 1.5 mm in size via a three-stage diamond recovery process which includes screening, dense media separation, and final recovery.

The total sample yielded 463 macrodiamonds having a combined weight of 41.85 carat. A number of larger stones were found in kimberlite body 141. It yielded 7 stones greater than 0.5 carat and an additional 9 stones ranging in size from 0.3 to 0.5 carat.

The 768.85 tonne sample from kimberlite 141 coughed up a total of 428 stones weighing 38.715 carats. The sample was derived from nine large diameter drill holes and sample grades ranged from 2.164 carats per hundred tonnes (cpht) to 7.269 cpht. The best interval sample grades averaged 21.274 cpht from the last 6 metres of hole 141-24. Kensington reports that two samples from the upper part of two drill holes have yet to be processed due to high clay contents.

A total 35 macrodiamonds with a combined weight of 3.135 carats were recovered from 120.96 tonnes of kimberlite 150 in drill hole 150-08. The company states that sample grades were variable throughout the borehole and ranged as high as 6.38 cpht.

In addition, Kensington reports that 424 microdiamonds were recovered from 495.21 kg of representative kimberlite that was collected from two coreholes in Kimberlite 141. This sample was processed utilizing caustic dissolution methods..

Representative samples from two coreholes 141-09 and 141-12 were submitted to Lakefield Research in Ontario for complete diamond recovery utilizing caustic dissolution techniques. These two coreholes were selected because they displayed variations in kimberlite bedding that had not been previously identified in the 141 body. Results from 267.67 kg of kimberlite from hole 141-09, yielded 153 microdiamonds collectively weighing 0.065 carats. Results from 227.54 kg of kimberlite intersection from 141-12, yielded 271 microdiamonds that weighed 0.078 carats. The data is now being evaluated to help with grade forecasts and modeled values. Results of a breakage study are also now being evaluated.

The Fort a la Corne Diamond Project is a joint venture among De Beers Canada Exploration, a wholly owned subsidiary of De Beers (42.25%), Cameco (CCO-T) (5.5%), UEM (carried 10%), and Kensington (42.25%).