The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
70% of the 2,500 samples from the kimberlite are complete North of 60 Mining News – April 29, 2022
Some of the 2,500 bags hole the Q1-4 bulk sample, 70% of which has returned 268 diamonds weighing 117.98 carats.
North Arrow Minerals Inc. April 26 reports the initial diamond recoveries from the first 70% (1,316 metric tons) of a bulk sample collected in 2021 from the Q1-4 diamond deposit at the Naujaat project in Nunavut.
"These initial diamond results from the 2021 bulk sample confirm the presence of an important, potentially high value, fancy orange and yellow diamond population in the Q1-4 kimberlite and add significant confidence to past results," said North Arrow Minerals President and CEO Ken Armstrong. "The significant proportion of fancy colour diamonds in the sample is positive and will provide important information needed to complete ongoing modelling of the size distributions of fancy diamonds in the Q1-4 deposit and will be used in an updated average diamond price estimate in due course."
Highlights from the most recent announcement include:
• 268 diamonds greater than 9 DTC (Diamond Trading Company) weighing 117.98 carats were recovered from 1,316 dry metric tons of kimberlite from the A28 unit – the average size of diamonds retained on the 9 DTC sieve is 0.21 carats.
• The three largest recovered diamonds are 3.31, 3.07, and 2.76 carats.
• 48 of the 268 diamonds (17.9%) classify as fancy color (20.9% by carat weight) – indicative of a desirable and potentially high-value diamond population.
• 58% of the fancy diamonds classify as orange as the primary color – with orange being considered amongst the rarest of colors for natural diamonds.
• The greater than 9 DTC sample grade of nine carats per hundred metric tons compares favorably with a similar-sized sample collected from the same geological unit in 2014 (9.3 cpht).
• Processing of the remainder of the 2021 bulk sample, collected from the A88 unit, is still ongoing.
"Diamond recoveries reported today have been achieved using an X-Ray Transmission (XRT) optical sorter, capable of recovering diamonds larger than 2 millimeters," continued Armstrong. "The results are reported with a bottom sieve size of +9 DTC, which is the smallest sieve size for which diamonds are detected and fully recovered using XRT. While this is a very coarse cut off for a traditional evaluation sample, it meets the needs of the current program."
The presiding purpose of the 2021 sample was to acquire further information on the coarser sizes of the Q1-4 diamond population, with particular emphasis on potential high-value fancy color diamonds. As such, color characterization studies of the diamonds have been completed using the industry-standard grading scale established by the Gemological Institute of America.
"We are very pleased with the results so far of this bulk sampling program, extremely well managed by our partners at North Arrow," said Burgundy Diamond Mines Ltd. Managing Director and CEO Peter Ravenscroft.
The $5.6 million bulk sample program is being funded by Burgundy as part of a June 2020 option agreement under which Burgundy may earn a 40% interest in the Naujaat project by funding the current bulk sample program.
"Initial indications are very promising, and we look forward to completion of the processing and the subsequent analysis of all results when available," finished Ravenscroft.
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