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Gold/Mining/Energy : ASHTON MINING OF CANADA (ACA)
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To: Phoenix who wrote (2741)11/3/1997 2:00:00 AM
From: ICE  Read Replies (1) of 7966
 
I am glad to answer your questions, however I will try to keep the answers brief and not to technical for I am sure that the other people on this thread do not want to listen to some huge geological debate.

1. You are correct in stating that more work is needed to determine the true shape of the bodies. I infer a `champagne glass' shape for the bodies based on the fact that the last reported drill holes for the satellite pipes drilled through the volcanics and into sediments. I am assuming that these satellite pipes are in fact related to the main K14 pipe that contained volcanics down to a depth of over 200 m. Thus the main K14 pipe could be the throat of the pipe and the satellite pipes parts of the outer contacts. Although the Buffalo Head terrain has been referred to as a `craton' by many companies exploring in the region, age dating of the basement rocks has established that the basement of northern Alberta is composed of late Archean aged rocks which have been extensively remobilized in the Early Proterozoic. This means that there are small pieces of older `craton' that have been broken up and are floating in this younger `mobile' crust. This is similar to what is found in parts of Russia and is not necessarily bad.

2a. I am not saying anything against Ashton's work, I am simply stating a fact that crater facies rocks are very difficult to work with and it can be very difficult to distinguish between kimberlites and other related rocks especially if you are dealing with only crater facies material or highly altered rocks as much of the core that I have seen of Ashton's is.

2b. You are correct that crater facies are an extrusive process that is primarily emplaced by the exploded volcanic rocks falling back into the crater. These units would also build up around the edge of the crater as a tuff ring that may eventually slump back into the crater as debris flows. The extruded volcanics can result in relatively thick homogeneous units ie. Mountain Lake is the closest example (over 175 m of fairly uniform crater facies airfall material).

3. In comparing with the Fort a la Corne pipes, Kiaser may have stated one theory on their formation, however another theory is that the kimberlite were deposited by airfall processes. The roots are more difficult to find due to their large surface area and the 100 m + of cover material. The fact that the kimberlites are crater facies does not suggest that they are low grade, it only means that they are likely very complex and will have a variable grade.

4. There was a big debate on the MPV thread recently that should answer your questions on the DHK pipe. Refer to postings

5. Mineral chemistry released by the Alberta Geological Survey indicates that the area has very low diamond potential. I believe that Kaiser also stated this in his talk in Calgary a short while back.

6. The Slave province is good old stable Archean basement that has not been reworked as seems to be the case in the Buffalo Hills. The more stable and colder the crust, the deeper the lithospheric root is and the more likely that the kimberlite originated from within the diamond stability field.

I hope that I have not created more questions then I have answered. The diamond results to date on ACA look very encouraging and I hope that everyone makes lots of $$$. I am sure that many more kimberlites are out there to be found!
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