Chris, you ask good questions for a novice in this area, and you correctly point out that "a very tiny shard" could be in the mix. This is where Mountain Province fell down in their early reporting some years ago. Most of the diamonds in their counts turned out to be fragments, meaning that the source rock hosted poor quality stones. It's also true that this sample is too small to mean much other than additional work should be done. Obviously these sizes are meaningless for commercial application, but may support the potential for larger stone being found. It would also be nice to have some report on the color, shape and quality of these macro's. I note that it has become somewhat of a tradition in Canada now to omit what would otherwise be more thorough press releases on lab analysis. Helpful to know in addition to count is the general shape of the stones, ratio of fragments if any, color, clarity, and ratio of gem quality to worthless or industrial grade. When all these elements are exciting, only then does the fully story seem to get out - as in Aber, Winspear, and DiaMet -, but keep these points in mind as you read future press releases.
Here's an old rule of thumb that was posted on this thread back in October of '97. It applies to much larger samples that in today's PR, but it is a helpful general guide for counts, at least.
- Under 5 macros per 10kg, probably not economic.
- Between 5 to 10 macros per 10kg, very good.
- Over 10 macros per 10 kg, outstanding.
Hope these few bits are useful.
VP |
