North Arrow shows off largest cut diamonds

North Arrow Minerals Inc. Feb. 21 announced that fancy-colored yellow diamonds recovered from its Naujaat Diamond project in Nunavut have been carefully cut and polished to showcase the quality and potential of this Far North diamond mine.

Located roughly nine kilometers (5.6 miles) northeast of the hamlet of Naujaat (formerly Repulse Bay) on Nunavut's Melville Peninsula, the Naujaat diamond project covers 10,742 hectares (26,544 acres) of contiguous mineral leases and claims held by North Arrow.

To date, fifteen kimberlites and eight kimberlite pipes have been identified on the property, as well as a number of associated kimberlite dykes. Of its numerous targets, the Q1-4 kimberlite is the largest and most diamondiferous of these bodies.

The top 205 meters of Q1-4 hosts 48 million metric tons of resource containing more than 26 million carats of diamonds.

North Arrow has undertaken extensive exploration and evaluation focused on the potential value of its uniquely colored fancy vivid orange-yellow diamonds found in the Q1-4 kimberlite at Naujaat, which is considered one of the largest undeveloped diamond properties in Canada not controlled by a major mining company.

As part of its 2021 bulk sample program from the Q1-4 kimberlite deposit, North Arrow spent most of last year painstakingly sorting through the 2,500 dry metric tons of material, yielding several glorious gemstones.

You can read the complete breakdown of North Arrow's diamond results at Fancy diamonds aid North Arrow Mining in the 2022 edition of Mining Explorers.

The diamonds were cut and polished at North Arrow partner Burgundy Diamond Mines' facility in Perth, Australia, as part of an ongoing evaluation of the Q1-4 diamond population, producing the two largest polished fancy color diamonds from Naujaat to date.

"These beautiful 0.31 and 0.21 carat fancy colour diamonds were polished by our partner, Burgundy Diamond Mines, from the biggest, best quality, fancy colour rough diamonds recovered so far from the Naujaat project," said North Arrow President and CEO Ken Armstrong. "The polished yield of both diamonds is approximately 38%, which is a significant improvement over past polishing efforts, and the 0.31 carat stone is well over twice the weight of previous fancy colour polished diamonds from the deposit."

With completion of the test polishing, the option earn-in program related to the 2021 bulk sample can now be considered complete, signaling that Burgundy Diamond Mines has earned a 40% interest in the Naujaat Diamond project.

"Next steps will include having the two diamonds formally certified as fancy colour diamonds at the Gemological Institute of America with a Colored Diamond Grading Report," finished Armstrong.