Partners Lytton Minerals (TSE) and New Indigo Resources (ASE) are proceeding with underground bulk sampling on the land-based JD/OD-1 kimberlite pipe at the Jericho diamond project in the Northwest Territories.
The decision is based on preliminary results from partial processing of a mini-bulk drill sample.
To date, 75.6 tonnes of a planned 100-tonne bulk sample have been recovered using 10.2-cm drilling. The initial processing of 24 tonnes of kimberlite material, representing two phases of the pipe, yielded 1,410 diamonds measuring greater than 1 mm in one dimension. The stones weighed 38.3 carats, giving a preliminary grade of 1.6 carats per tonne.
A total of 385 of the diamonds measured greater than 2 mm in one dimension, equating to a grade of 1.2 carats per tonne.
A preliminary evaluation was carried out on stones recovered from the first 12 tonnes of kimberlite and which measured greater than 2 mm. The diamonds were valued by an independent evaluator in Antwerp at an average of US$95 per carat; more than 55% of the diamonds were found to be of gem quality.
Included in these stones were five diamonds measuring 0.85-1.05 carats each.
Based on delineation drilling, the JD/OD-1 pipe is estimated to contain 15 million tonnes to a depth of 750 metres.
The JD/OD-1 and neighboring JD/OD-2 pipes are 19 km north of Echo Bay Mine’s Lupin gold mine. Lytton and New Indigo have entered into an agreement with Echo Bay, which grants them access to the Lupin site and to a wide range of facilities that includes water and power, and the use of the tailings area.
Lytton and New Indigo plan to construct a 10-tonne-per-hour diamond recovery plant at Lupin to enable the processing of a 15,000-20,000-tonne underground bulk sample from the JD/OD-1 pipe.
A decline portal is already collared, and a mining contract has been awarded to Thyssen Mining Construction of Canada.
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