Jun 29 2017
North Arrow Minerals Inc. is pleased to announce the start of a $3.2M exploration program at the Company’s 100% owned Naujaat (now-yat; formerly Qilalugaq) and Mel Diamond Projects, Nunavut.
Orangey yellow diamond from the Naujaat Diamond Project -- GIA colour certified 0.12 carat fancy vivid orangey yellow round brilliant. Credit: Marketwired
Highlights of the exploration work to be completed this summer include:
At the Naujaat Project
- 4,500m of drilling intended to better delineate the Q1-4 kimberlite, in particular between 200m and 300m below surface;
- Collection of a 200 tonne mini-bulk sample from the highest grade phase of the Q1-4 kimberlite and intended to better characterize the macrodiamond population, including a population of rare, fancy orangey yellow diamonds.
At the Mel Project
- Detailed prospecting and geophysical surveys of high priority kimberlite indicator mineral (KIM) targets, which could result in the discovery of a new kimberlite field.
Naujaat Diamond Project – A 4,500m drilling program has commenced at the Q1-4 kimberlite, located just 9 km from the Hamlet of Naujaat (Repulse Bay). Drilling is intended to better delineate the kimberlite, in particular between 200m and 300m below surface, and will also help confirm and update the internal geological model for Q1-4 and improve the deposit’s spatial diamond dataset.
Ken Armstrong, President and CEO of North Arrow, stated, “We are pleased that drilling is underway at the Naujaat Project for the first time in over 12 years. Q1-4 is a large kimberlite, having a surface area in excess of 12 ha and excellent potential to extend at depth beyond the reach of past drilling efforts. The current program will provide important information to confirm and update the size of the Q1-4 kimberlite as well as improve our understanding of its internal geology and diamond distribution within the deposit. The 2017 summer drilling is part of a staged exploration program designed to define a NI 43-101 inferred resource down to a depth of at least 300m below surface.”
A 200 tonne mini-bulk sampling program is also scheduled for July. The program will utilize a mini-excavator to collect approximately 250 mega-bags of kimberlite from the A61 phase of Q1-4, in an area where this coherent hypabyssal kimberlite subcrops beneath approximately 0.5m of glacial till. Based on the May 2013 NI 43-101 inferred resource for Q1-4, A61 has the highest model grade of the five phases or units that comprise the kimberlite and the 2017 mini-bulk sample is intended to provide an indication of the characteristics of the macrodiamond population in this area of the deposit. The sample will be shipped south in late August on Naujaat’s annual sea-lift and will be processed during the fall of 2017.
Mr. Armstrong continued, “As we have noted from North Arrow’s ongoing evaluation of Q1-4, this kimberlite hosts an important population of fancy orangey yellow diamonds, which have been recovered from every phase of the kimberlite and have the potential to positively impact the overall diamond value of the deposit. The 2017 mini-bulk sample will advance this evaluation by providing an indication of the characteristics of these rare, coloured diamonds in the highest grade phase of the deposit and will help with planning a larger bulk sampling program in 2018.”
Mel Diamond Project – As part of its overall 2017 exploration program, North Arrow field crews will also be conducting a program of detailed prospecting and geophysical surveys at the Mel Project, located on the Melville Peninsula, approximately 210 km northeast of Naujaat and 140 km south of the Hamlet of Hall Beach. Prospecting will focus on areas up-ice from at least two, and possibly three, KIM trains sharply defined from previous sampling. Anomalous samples in this area include the full suite of KIMs including magnesian ilmenite, and mantle-derived sub-calcic pyrope and eclogitic garnets, with counts ranging from hundreds to in excess of 1,200 KIMs per 20 kg of till suggesting very close proximity to a kimberlite bedrock source.
All of the kimberlite fields discovered to date in the eastern Canadian arctic, including at North Arrow’s Naujaat Project, include at least some kimberlite bodies that occur in outcrop or subcrop and prospecting is considered a cost effective exploration tool that could lead to the discovery of a new kimberlite field at Mel.