Just happened to skate from Stockhouse to SI and thought some of you may be interested. Here is one of the sessions taking place on Jan 25th. Will be well attended!...
Here is the link to the schedule.
chamberofmines.bc.ca
regards Frank
ABSTRACTS
DIAMONDS - THE NEXT TEN YEARS IN CANADA
Session Chairpersons:
Robert Boyd Randy Turner
Ashton Mining of Canada Inc. Diamondex Resources Ltd.
January 25, 2001
9:00 - 12:00 noon
Ballroom, Four Seasons Hotel
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Overview Session
Jeff Ward and Brooke Clements, Ashton Mining of Canada Inc.
The North Slave Craton Region of Nunavut:
An Emerging Diamond District
The north Slave craton region of Nunavut is located approximately 450 km north of Yellowknife and is centered 75 km south of the Coronation Gulf. Systematic diamond exploration was initiated in the region shortly after the initial discoveries at Lac de Gras in 1991. Diamond exploration efforts through 1999 resulted in the discovery of four kimberlites, all of which are thought to be barren or weakly diamondiferous. Exploration acitivity in the region increased dramatically in early 2000 and at least nine kimberlites have been discovered in 2000 and 2001 by Ashton and others. Most of these kimberlites are significantly diamondiferous with the two most recent Ashton discoveries, Artemisia and Potentilla, having initial microdiamond results that compare favourably to the initial results from some of the kimberlites slated for production in the Northwest Territories. The four kimberlite discoveries made by Ashton between 1999 and 2001 were the result of an integrated program of heavy mineral sampling, geophysics and prospecting. In all cases kimberlite float was discovered prior to drilling. In three out of four cases, diamonds were recovered from till samples prior to kimberlite discovery. Recent discoveries of significantly diamondiferous kimberlites and the prospect of increased exploration activity in the region clearly demonstrate that a significant new Canadian diamond district has emerged in the north Slave craton.
Richard Wake-Walker, Charles Wyndham, and Harry Garnett
WWW International Diamond Consultants
The Past & Future Diamond Markets,
an Opportunity for Junior Diamond Explorers
WWW International Diamond Consultants Limited (WWW) is a British based independent diamond consulting firm whose members possess a broad range of experience and skills within the international diamond industry.
Over the last five years WWW has developed unique methods of analyzing all data related to the rough diamond business. Its skills have been utilized by a number of banks and financial institutions, exploration and mining companies both for evaluating historical data, analyzing productions and exploration samples, as well as forecasting future trends in rough diamond pricing.
There are a number of new developments in the structure of the rough and polished diamond markets. WWW has completed a detailed analysis of the last five years in the rough and polished diamond trading centers including pricing trends and the level of rough supplies to the markets.
Additionally WWW has prepared a forecast of the diamond market over the next 5 to 10 years, specifically relating to supply and demand, and how the current changes being experienced will affect the future. This forecast will focus on the impact of the current and future Canadian diamond production especially how it relates to junior diamond exploration and mining companies. This forecast will help these companies assess the risks and rewards of planning future exploration, development and production.
Brooke Clements and Robert Lucas, Ashton Mining of Canada Inc.
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Tyson Birkett, Ghislain Poirier and Pierre Bertrand, SOQUEM Inc.
The Otish Mountains Region, Quebec,
Canada's Newest Field of Kimberlitic Rocks
The Precambrian-aged Superior craton is the world's largest stable platform of ancient crustal rocks, and as such is viewed as being broadly favourable for the emplacement of diamondiferous kimberlite. Between 1996 and 2000 Ashton Mining of Canada Inc. and joint venture partner SOQUEM completed a first pass diamond exploration program over a large portion of the eastern Superior craton in northern Quebec. More than 1700 heavy mineral samples were collected over an area of approximately 425,000 square kilometres. A number of areas with anomalous concentrations of kimberlite indicator minerals were identified during this work. Indicator mineral compositions from these anomalous areas vary markedly suggesting that the mantle conditions vary geographically. Distinct pyrope garnet populations are apparent in the anomalous areas, with high chromium, low calcium ("G10") garnet populations present from trace to about 16 percent of the total recovered peridotitic pyrope. The associated picroilmenite populations are also distinct and suggest that a high degree of diamond preservation can be expected in certain areas. During the joint ventures first drilling program in late 2001, four geophysical anomalies were tested resulting in the discovery of two intrusions of kimberlitic rock. The discovery of this new field of kimberlitic rocks illustrates what may be achieved through diligent grass roots exploration and demonstrates the potential for the discovery of new diamond mining camps in underexplored regions of Canada.
Jacques Letendre, Majescor Resources
Wemindji Project, Québec
The Wemindji Project area is situated immediately east of James Bay, in an area with year-round road access and excellent infrastructure. Majescor's holdings in the area total over 870 km2. The company has been active in sector since 1999 through the acquisition of a number of claim blocks from Virginia Gold Mines. On the strength of positive laboratory results received early that year for one of the claim blocks, Majescor gradually widened the scope of its sampling campaigns to a more regional level, defining a broad scatter of kimberlitic indicator minerals. The area had been previously prospected by De Beers Canada (then Monopros Ltd.) over a period of at least three years. Although they had failed to produce a kimberlite, supposedly because of the very noisy magnetic background, they had isolated a small sector that was said by them to contain the head of a 30 km long dispersion train of indicator minerals.
Majescor, rather than duplicate previous work to find the primary sources, built on it, carrying out high-resolution geophysical surveys only over selected areas to test the method, performing semi-detailed sampling of glacial and postglacial sediments over the bulk of the property, as well over the best magnetic and indicator mineral targets, investigating well over 50 magnetic anomalies on the ground in the process.
The laboratory results indicate that the majority of the Wemindji property is anomalous in indicator minerals, over 70% of the sample sites having proved positive. A substantial number of them have yielded in excess of 100 grains. The maximum indicator count reported to date is in excess of 9 000. The property contains several "hot spots" with features indicating their proximity to a kimberlite pipe. These include one or more of the following: high indicator counts, the presence of fragile textures on ilmenite and garnet, or of primary grain morphology on garnet, the abundance of the more fragile species (forsterite olivine and chrome diopside), and the occurrence of kimberlite fragments (at three sites). In particular, numerous kimberlite fragments were recovered at the one site containing over 9 000 indicators, many of the samples collected within a radius of 300 m of it proving to contain garnets with kelyphite rims and ilmenites with perovskite mantles.
In the Wemindji Project area, the kimberlitic indicator population is dominated by ilmenite, closely followed by garnet (G9, G10 and megacrysts). Olivine, chromite and chrome diopside are scarce. The mineral chemistry of the indicator minerals recovered on the project suggests the kimberlites have sampled within the diamond stability field and that the diamonds would have been transported in a reducing environment and thus preserved.
The area of the Wemindi project was singled out in 2000 by Quebec Government Department of Geology as the number one target in the province based on a host of geological and geophysical criteria, the main factor being that the NE-SW trending Sakami corridor (a structure seen as a magma-permeable zone) and the NE extension of the Kapuskasing horst intersect exactly there. However, the company's own geophysical surveying has identified a very strong E-W oriented structure crossing the property. Described by Dr. Paterson of Paterson, Grant and Watson Ltd. as the Wemindji Extension Zone, it is thought to be a major ENE trending fault zone that could possibly extend well into James Bay.
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Kevin R. Kivi (1) and Edward C. Walker (2)
1 Kennecott Canada Exploration Inc., Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
2 Petrologic Inc, Lakefield, Ontario, Canada
Diamond-bearing alkaline metavolcanics of the Michipicoten Greenstone Belt, Superior Province, Canada.
Archean diamond-bearing volcanic complexes occur within supracrustal rocks of the Michipicoten greenstone belt, near Wawa, Ontario. The diamond-bearing rocks are metavolcanic alkaline intrusives and extrusives that are intercalated with mafic metavolcanic pillow basalts and lava flows.
Intrusive facies of these alkaline rocks, formerly referred to as lamprophyres, are characterized as hypabyssal facies and intrusive heterolithic breccias. They consist of mica and amphibole phenocrysts (<2mm) in a groundmass of mica, actinolitic amphibole and lesser albite, carbonate, sphene and oxides. Alteration includes variably chloritized mica while the other phenocrysts have been extensively altered to varying proportions of mica, albite and actinolitic amphibole.
Extrusive diamond-bearing rocks are medium to thickly bedded pyroclastic air-fall deposits and debris flows described as heterolithic tuff-breccias that grade upwards to lapilli-tuff and tuff. The groundmass of the extrusive phase is fine-grained with variable proportions of relatively small (<2mm) altered phenocrysts, including chloritized mica. The groundmass consists primarily of actinolitic amphibole with rare to minor mica or granular albite. The pyroclastics are mineralogically and compositionally similar to intrusive varieties but have a significantly higher proportion of mica phenocrysts.
Both diamond-bearing intrusive and extrusive rocks host significant proportions of fragments generally derived from the local country rock. Rare to minor deep crustal and mantle rocks, such as banded gneiss and extensively altered talcose ultramafic xenoliths are also present. Fresh mantle rocks, such as lhertzolite, harzburgite and eclogite have not been identified.
Diamonds have been recovered from all facies of the alkaline rocks, but the pyroclastic facies is the primary diamond exploration target because it has yielded the highest diamond counts so far and has proven to be larger in size.
The diamond-bearing rocks are now a new focus in diamond exploration by Kennecott Canada Exploration Inc. with an agreement to extract a 100 Tonne bulk sample for diamonds from the GQ Property which is held by Band-Ore Resources Ltd.. De Beers Canada Exploration Inc. has collected a similar-sized sample from the nearby Festival Property held by Pele Mountain Resources Inc.
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Brent Jellicoe., Kensington Resources Limited, Saskatoon
Kirsten Marcia, Shore Gold Inc., Saskatoon
Evaluation of Diamond-Studded Elephants in Fort a la Corne, Saskatchewan; Why These Jumbo Diamondiferous Kimberlites Aren't Ponderous, Paradoxical or Problematical.
The Fort a la Corne Kimberlite Field of east-central Saskatchewan hosts 73 kimberlite bodies located primarily within a narrow northwest-trending corridor, and within four subordinate satellite clusters. Early stage exploration by junior companies continues at moderate levels while significantly increased evaluation programs using bulk samples are in progress or are planned by the Fort a la Corne (FalC) Joint Venture and by Shore Gold Inc..
Exploration over a large number of bodies has been conducted by the FalC Joint Venture composed of Kensington Resources, De Beers, Cameco, and UEM Inc.. Integration of results from 219 drillholes and extensive geophysical surveys indicate kimberlite body outlines ranging from 2.7 - 184 ha and estimated masses up to 930 million tonnes based on 30 metre thickness cutoffs. Laterally extensive, lensoidal crater-facies kimberlites have minimal host rock dilution (>5%) and range from simple mono-eruptive bodies to large multi-eruptive, layered edifices. Seventy-one percent of the bodies are diamond-bearing and recovery of 1,349 macrodiamonds (>0.8 mm) ranging up to 1.535 carats in size presages the economic potential of this area.
A synthesis of forecast grades, diamond valuations, and body size was used to prioritize FalC kimberlite bodies for evaluation-stage investigation focused on delineating and refining estimates of revenue potential. The most prospective body is Kimberlite 141, which has favourable forecast grades (19 cpht), excellent modeled stone values ranging from US$ 148 to 179 (though tempered by low confidence levels at this time), and strong indications of large stone potential. Best fit to optimistic preliminary modeled revenues range from US$28 to $33 per tonne and estimated operating costs are in the US$8 to $10 per tonne range.
A number of junior exploration companies are active in the FalC area including Shore Gold Inc., Shane Resources, and Skeena Resources. Shore Gold is a driving force in the area and has conducted several drilling and sampling programs focused on delineation of the Star Kimberlite. Work to date indicates an estimated body size of 500 million tonnes with a macrodiamond grade (>0.5 mm) of 30 cpht, but with high-grade zones as high as 435 cpht over a 25.6 metres thickness. Approximately 90 tonnes of kimberlite recently was collected from a large diameter drillhole for diamond characterization and evaluation of processing methods. Joint venture groups including Skeena and Shore Gold, as well as Shane and others recently mounted core drilling programs to the north, south, and west of the main kimberlite trend. Skeena expects to test samples of split core for complete diamond content during the first quarter of 2002.
After a somewhat ponderous first decade, rather mundane diamond results have been superceded by evaluation work that is revealing favourable economic potential for some very large macrodiamond-bearing kimberlite bodies. At one time, significant differences in the petrography, size, shape, and apparent lack of pipe development at FalC were considered negative aspects because comparison of grades to producing mines was not immediately favourable. FalC kimberlites are not paradoxical, rather, their unique architecture and layering indicates remarkably well-preserved emplacement of crater-facies kimberlite that was not significantly diluted by country rock. Myths and contrary ideas centered on the unique characteristics of the Fort a la Corne kimberlites have arisen periodically over the lengthy exploration stage. These misperceptions invoke problematical obstacles, which detract from consideration of the economic potential inherent in mining these massive macrodiamond-bearing kimberlites. These issues will be redefined within a more accurate context that accentuates the positive attributes of these bodies |
