The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Mining Explorers 2022 - January 19, 2023
This exceptional 151.6-carat diamond was recovered from the Gahcho Kué mine in Northwest Territories during 2022.
A collection of diamonds from sampling of the Faraday 2 kimberlite on Mountain Province's Kennady North project adjacent to the Gahcho Kué Mine in Northwest Territories.
In its effort to identify and delineate diamond-rich kimberlites that will extend the life of Gahcho Kué Mine in Northwest Territories beyond 2030, Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. is involved with exploration on two fronts.
Located about 280 kilometers (175 miles) northeast of the NWT capital city of Yellowknife, Gahcho Kué is a diamond mine owned and operated by a joint venture between De Beers Canada Inc. (51%) and Mountain Province (49%).
Going into 2022, Gahcho Kué hosted 28.3 million metric tons of probable reserves averaging 1.51 carats per metric ton (42.6 million carats) of diamonds – enough to support mining through 2030.
To expand these reserves, exploration carried out by the Gahcho Kué Joint Venture is focused primarily on extending the Hearne, 5034, Tuzo, and Wilson kimberlites currently being mined.
Mountain Province is particularly excited about a recent extension of the Hearne kimberlite, as mining at Hearne in 2021 exposed an extension of this kimberlite on the northwest pit face.
By midyear, the Gahcho Kué JV had defined the Hearne Northwest Extension with 4,284 meters of drilling in 14 holes. These holes, which cut 23 to 114 meters of diamond-bearing kimberlite, show this extension trends in a more northerly direction than geophysics indicated.
"Hearne has been a consistent surprise since mining started at Gahcho Kué," said Mountain Province Diamonds President and CEO Mark Wall. "We look forward to further delineating the Hearne northwest extension with the goal of increasing the Gahcho Kué mine life."
In addition to the joint venture exploration, Mountain Province is carrying out its own investigation of Kennady North, a 107,373-hectare (265,324 acres) property that surrounds the Gahcho Kué property.
Kennady North is a diamond exploration property that hosts three kimberlites with delineated resources – Kelvin, Faraday 1-3, and Faraday 2.
Kelvin hosts 8.5 million metric tons of inferred resource averaging 1.6 carats per ton (13.62 million carats) of diamonds.
Faraday 2 hosts 2.07 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 2.63 c/t (5.45 million carats) of diamonds.
Faraday 1-3 hosts 1.87 million metric tons of inferred resources averaging 1.04 c/t (1.9 million carats) of diamonds.
Located within 10 kilometers (six miles) of the Gahcho Kué operation, these kimberlites have the potential to extend the life of the mine deeper into the 21st century.
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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