No diamonds for Ashton at Caltha

The Caltha kimberlite, which was discovered this past spring on the Ric property in the Coronation Gulf region of Nunavut, has proved barren of diamonds.

Ashton Mining of Canada (ACA-T) found the kimberlite while drill- testing a geophysical anomaly measuring 160 by 170 metres. The electromagnetic (EM) target, which lies beneath a narrow, 1-km-long lake, was tested with two vertically drilled holes spaced 80 metres apart. After passing through 22 metres of ice and water, plus 10 metres of overburden, the holes intersected diatreme facies kimberlite and were shut down while still in kimberlite at depths of 145 and 175 metres.

A 209-kg kimberlite sample collected from the two holes returned no diamonds.

The Caltha discovery is 14 km southeast of the Perseus kimberlite and 24 km northeast of the Anuri kimberlite, discovered by Kennecott Canada Exploration on Tahera’s Rockinghorse project.

During the spring drilling campaign, Ashton tested a second EM target, on the Ric property, 6 km east of Caltha. This anomaly lies in the interpreted source area of a highly anomalous indicator-mineral dispersion train. More than 600 kimberlite indicator grains, including a 0.4-mm diamond, were recovered from a till sample in this area. The drilling intersected three narrow kimberlite dykes, the largest of which had a true width of about 1 metre. Ashton says these kimberlite intercepts do not adequately explain the indicator train.

The Ric property is governed by the Slave joint venture, in which Ashton holds an 89.4% interest and Pure Gold Minerals (PUG-T), the remainder. The joint venture holds six properties in the Coronation Gulf region totalling 2,225 sq. km. More than 1,500 till samples will be collected this summer in an attempt to define at least 10 known indicator mineral anomalies.