Kaiser may say better spec value in Shear/Churchill versus Aviat, but remember that Aviat has already a blow found with diamonds in place, and the indicator mineral chemistry, while predominantly eclogitic, is presumed to be as good.
I would say, that there is more indication at present that Aviat has the momentum, but I will admit mystery of all those pipes that may be kimberlites, diamondiferously perhaps sells better than history. If you were a cautious rational betting person, you would tend to favour Aviat with its proven potential diamondiferousness. Right now Churchill is promotion, albeit expertly done. We could go back to Alberta or the Otish mountains before they were drilled and say exactly the same things.
Every pipe after Diamet in the NWT was discounted until it had diamond counts. Then the feeling set in even if it had counts, it had to prove further. Now were are back to area plays with indicators telling the tale. The exact same thing could have been done in Wawa where there are presently diamonds in place in fairly wide mineable dykes and fissures. But in Wawa which had the G10 garnets but they were also extremely subcalcic, and large (1 carat) diamonds found in several places in drift, the play got no attention. Why? Well several factors. 1. a major (Kennecott) dropped the initial option after their bulk sample found diamonds in situ. 2. there were no famous diamond explorers in the area. 3. one company, the main landholder in the area, did not announce any of their chemistry or pipe discoveries, (Canabrava) preferring to operate practically in secret. We saw hand samples of several large diatremes they had discovered which surfaced. 4. at the time, Ontario was being badmouthed because of its unfavourable chemistry due to DeBeers propaganda about Kirkland Lake and the lack of a major discovery. 5. the drift diopside was of poor chemistry in that it was low. (but low-chrome chrome diopside is found in diamond pipes too. Also, the low chrome diopside could have come from the lamprophyre dyke swarms.) 6. the focus of the market was on NWT. Some people who had no knowledge at all, but were selling stock in the NWT plays were able to dissuade investors from believing in the North American trough, because of some sort of magical "in the know" prescience of its potential.
All in all, with no good evidence but specious arm waving, and a focus on the NWT as the play of choice, Wawa was ignored, and for a while so were the Otish mountains. Alberta too was bypassed despite the diamond counts that Ashton was getting which were pretty fair. Ashton's own disappointment in not getting huge counts did it, or Alberta no good. But the diamondiferousness of the pipes is the best indicator of possible economics of other pipes. Botswana has scads of barren and poor kimberlites. So do South Africa and the Yakuts. But they have a few that run.
It was not Wawa's time, and it still is not. It had no promotion, the scientists who liked it, notably Roger Mitchell and Andrew Fyon, were ignored and perhaps a trifle denigrated.
There will come a time when people will return to some of these areas and re-evaluate. They always do.
Diamonds were predicted to be found in Wawa exactly where they were. There was a reason. It was not pure luck. Someday we will tell you what we knew, but it is not the time.
The facts are kimberlite has been found in New York State and Michigan with diamonds in it, and perhaps 10 other states in the Union, and 9 provinces and territories for the past 100 years. There are 3000 kimberlites found so far (or more) in North America, which is perhaps 1/2 the worldwide count. Many were found well before the 1990's when the contemporary diamond rush began. Diamonds were found in place in many areas, Wyoming, Arkansas Colorado, Quebec, Arctic Islands, and Ontario, from the 1940's. onward. Diamonds were even produced from a mine for 2 years in Arkansas. Diamonds have been found in drift in sluice boxes from the Southern States to the Yukon. Perhaps the original diamond scam of the Colorado Wyoming area in the 1870's which was discredited so thoroughly it seems, may not have been a scam at all, as it was "wildly co-incidentally" placed upon a butte in Colorado, that was found to be in the area of Lamproitic and kimerlitic diamond disoveries some 100 year later. Was it a scam, or just a play that fizzled with some intrigue and shenanigans, and artful anti propaganda from some disbelievers? (Windy Craggy -- a latter day case in point?) Not the first time something has been discredited by thieves to steal it, or a real property has been salted.
The widespread unprecedented diamondiferousness of North America will eventually dawn on a few explorers. There is simply no area in the world quite like it, with so many areas of mining potential. You can find diamond all over. Pipe and dyke swarms and rich pipes abound. When you step back from the map and throw darts, they land more often than not on an area where discovery has been made of promise and magnitude. This is more than average promising, all in all.
It is just beginning.
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