PEOPLE — LORICA RES. — Jaime Araoz, Jorge Bedoya and

A 198.9-kg drill sample from Aber Resources’ (TSE) Diavik project in the Northwest Territories has yielded 150 microdiamonds and 99 macros.

The hole, A154-9, was drilled into the southern kimberlite pipe, about 50 metres northeast of the discovery hole, A154-2. Drilled vertically, the hole reached bedrock at a depth of 24.8 metres and penetrated 30.5 metres of granite prior to intersecting kimberlite at 55.3 metres. The hole bottomed in kimberlite at 169.7 metres.

Of the 99 macros recovered, 24 are greater than 1 mm in one dimension. Two of these measure more than 2 mm and one exceeds 3 mm in two dimensions. As previously reported, a clear and colorless octahedron, which appeared to be sheared in half by the drill bit, was also recovered from the core prior to processing. It has been calculated that the full stone would have weighed about 0.5 carats.

Drill core from the remaining two holes drilled this year — A154-10 (southern pipe) and A154-11 (northern pipe) — is being processed. The project, near Lac de Gras, is a 60-40 joint venture between Kennecott Canada and Aber.

Saskatchewan

* Drilling is under way on the Carrot River property near Prince Albert. The target is the CN-1 magnetic anomaly believed to represent a buried kimberlite. Upon completion of the program, Calco Resources (VSE) will earn an additional 5%, bringing its interest to 15%. Swannel Minerals (VSE) and Golden News Resources (TSE) will each hold 42.5%.

Ontario

* The Ontario Geological Survey has released the results of an overburden sampling program for kimberlites in the Wawa area. The survey was carried out after two macrodiamonds were found in river gravels.

A total of 309 kimberlite indicator minerals were recovered from 250 samples. Analytical work performed by the government revealed that the geochemistry of four G10 pyrope garnets and four high-chrome chromites is similar to that of known diamond-producing kimberlites.

An area of particular interest lies within the Trout Creek drainage basin, south of Wawa. Five samples collected from three sites in this basin yielded a surprising number and variety of indicator minerals.

United States

Redaurum (TSE) has entered an agreement to acquire the remaining 75% interest in the Kelsey Lake diamond property in northern Colorado for US$1 million and 1.1 million Redaurum shares.

To date, sampling of the Kelsey Lake property has recovered more than 600 diamonds, the two largest being 14.2- and 6.2-carat, gem-quality stones. More than 60% of the diamonds recovered have been of gem quality. The Kelsey Lake cluster consists of eight kimberlite pipes with the two largest pipes, KL-1 and KL-2, having surface areas of 5.03 and 3.8 hectares, respectively.

The company plans to proceed with construction of a 250,000-tonne-per-year processing plant to facilitate trial mining in 1995, as well as a prefeasibility study.