The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Mining Explorers 2019 – Published Nov. 1, 2019
Yellow diamonds from the Q1-4 kimberlite at Naujaat.
North Arrow Minerals Inc. is exploring seven diamond projects in Canada – Naujaat, Mel and Luxx in Nunavut; Lac de Gras (LDG) and Loki in Northwest Territories; Pikoo in Saskatchewan; and Timiskaming in Ontario.
Much of North Arrow's 2019 work focused on Naujaat, the company's most advanced property.
In May, the company announced the start of engineering and cost analysis for a small-scale mobile diamond recovery plant to process bulk samples from Q1-4, one of at least eight kimberlites identified at Naujaat.
According to a calculation completed in 2013, the top 205 meters of the Q1-4 kimberlite hosts 48.8 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 53.6 carats per hundred metric ton, or 26.1 million carats
Based on limited exploration, it is estimated that another 7.9 to 9.3 million carats of diamonds are between 205 and 305 meters of Q1-4.
North Arrow is planning to process a 10,000 metric ton bulk sample from the Q1-4 deposit through a small-scale mobile diamond recovery plant to be set up at Naujaat.
The purpose of the bulk sample will be to evaluate diamond size distribution and value characteristics, with emphasis on a distinct population of high-value, fancy, yellow to orangey-yellow diamonds that have been identified in the deposit.
Q1-4's proximity to marine transportation infrastructure and a proposed new access route from the nearby community of Naujaat improves the viability of setting up a bulk sample diamond recovery plant at the project.
The community of Naujaat is planning to build an access trail that will pass roughly 1,500 meters southeast of Q1-4. This trail will lie entirely within the Municipality of Naujaat and the hamlet has taken the lead as proponent for its design and construction and is pursuing financing options.
"Locating a small-scale diamond recovery plant at or near the project site will also reduce costs, improve logistics and increase local employment and business opportunities for the residents of Naujaat," said North Arrow Minerals President and CEO Ken Armstrong.
Completion of the access trail is scheduled for summer 2020, which aligns with projected timing for delivery of the diamond recovery plant.
In addition to the work at Naujaat, exploration was carried out this year at the LDG and Loki projects.
Dominion Diamond Mines, North Arrow's joint venture partner at LDG, funded a C$2.8 million exploration program focused on kimberlite discovery in this prospective area adjacent to the south side of the Diavik Mine property. This program includes additional geophysics and roughly 1,000 meters of drilling. As a result of Dominion's funding, North Arrow's JV interest in LDG is expected to be diluted to around 21 percent.
North Arrow also carried out a three-week exploration program at Loki, which borders west of LDG and about 19 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of the Ekati diamond mine.
This till sampling and two reverse circulation drill holes at Loki were partially funded by a grant from the Northwest Territories' Mining Incentive Program.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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