Golconda drills for diamonds

Drilling for diamonds is getting under way at Shulin Lake, 47 miles northwest of Anchorage. This year's $1 million drill program is a joint venture between Calgary-based Golconda Resources (51 percent), Shulin Lake Mining and Shear Minerals. The program got the go-ahead after microdiamonds were found at the property in hole 22, the last one drilled in 2004.

Last year's reinterpretation of an airborne magnetic survey undertaken in 2000 showed that this hole was at the edge of two of the most prominent anomalies. The reinterpretation indicates several targets that could be due to intrusive bodies or pipes, Golconda said in a release Jan. 18. Diamonds are extremely difficult to find, and there are only about 100 diamondiferous pipes in the world.