Quebec yields new diamond target

A potential diamond property has been reported in the Lac Bienville region, 460 km north of Chibougamau.

Two grains of chrome-rich picroilmenite were identified in the region during an esker sediment reconnaissance survey last summer. Chrome-rich picroilmenite is one of the strongest indicators of the presence of diamondiferous kimberlites.

Researchers gathered 33 esker sediment samples from a 10,000-sq.-km area. The samples, each of which weighed 20 kg, were then dry-sieved at minus 5.6 mm.

“There are some G9 garnets east of here,” says Michel Parent, a research scientist with Natural Resources Canada, who conducted the study. “We are confident there is mantle-derived material in that area, mostly likely kimberlites.”

He adds that the source of this material is different from the kimberlites associated with recent diamond discoveries in the Otish Mountains region, a few hundred kilometres to the south.

The Lac Bienville discovery is was made as a result of a joint government undertaking — the Far North Mining Exploration Program, introduced by Quebec in 1997, and the federal Targeted Geoscience Initiative.

“By working together to improve the quality of geoscientific information, [Quebec and the federal government] are securing a favourable competitive position in an expanding global market,” states Herb Dhaliwal, federal minister of Natural Resources.

Currently, Quebec is experiencing one of the largest staking rushes in its history. Last December, two diamantiferous kimberlites were discovered in the Otish Mountains region. In addition, two sectors in the James Bay area — Wemindji and Nottaway-Rupert — are attracting interest as potential diamond sites.

Details about these projects are available in report PRO 2002-02 on the Quebec Department of Natural Resources web site at www.mrn.gouv.qc.ca