Ashton's Ric property is diamondiferous
Ashton Mining of Canada Inc ACA
Shares issued 35,887,417 2000-12-13 close $0.76
Thursday Dec 14 2000 News Release
See Pure Gold Minerals Inc (PUG) News Release
Mr. Donald Sheldon of Pure Gold reports
The Perseus kimberlite on the Ric property in Nunavut is diamondiferous.
The Perseus kimberlite is located at the head of a highly anomalous indicator mineral train coincident with the presence of kimberlite float. As reported in Stockwatch, on Sept. 26, 2000, microdiamonds were present in till samples and kimberlite float distributed over a strike length of 1.4 kilometres. In September, 2000, five core holes were drilled into the hypabyssal kimberlite. The drill results suggest that the intrusion is a dike approximately 10-metre-wide dipping north at approximately 19 degrees with an east-northeast strike.
In total, 55 microdiamonds were recovered from 211 kilograms of kimberlite by caustic dissolution at Ashton's North Vancouver laboratory. Material from all five drill holes was processed. A microdiamond is defined as being greater than 0.1 and less than 0.5 millimetres in all dimensions. Drilling is planned in 2001, to better delineate the dimensions of the Perseus dike and to determine the variability of its diamond content.
Ashton is encouraged by this discovery of a new diamondiferous kimberlite in the northern part of the Slave craton. In addition to Perseus, two other diamondiferous kimberlites were discovered in the region during 2000, by different mining groups. These discoveries provide a clear indication of the potential for further diamondiferous kimberlite discoveries in the north Slave. At least seven indicator mineral trains with encouraging mineralogy remain unexplained on the 51,100-hectare Ric property and on the 53,100-hectare Kim property, located 25 kilometres to the north. Exploration on the Ric and Kim in 2001, will consist of heavy mineral sampling and airborne and ground geophysical surveys followed by the drilling of high-priority targets if warranted.
The Ric and Kim claims constitute two of the properties being explored by Ashton and Pure Gold under the Slave Regional joint venture. Current approximate interests in the joint venture are Ashton 87.5 per cent and Pure Gold 12.5 per cent. Ashton is operator of all programs under the joint venture, and Brooke Clements, professional geologist and Ashton's vice-president, exploration, is responsible for the design and conduct of the programs. |
