RE: kimberlite distributionProject facts:
* The joint venture covers 63 of the 71+ kimberlites found in the area.
* The 71+ diamondiferous bodies of the Fort à la Corne (FALC) field form one of the largest diamondiferous kimberlite clusters in the world.
* The kimberlites appear to be large (>200ha) and tend to have broad, champagne glass forms lying under ~100m of glacial cover.
* De Beers Canada entered into the joint venture in 1992, becoming the operator in December 1998.
* For approximately 14 years the project has been underway and CDN $30 million has been spent by the joint venture partners on exploration to date.
Project development
2004/2005 programme
Fort à la Corne’s exploration budget is CDN $7.6 million, the largest to date, and reflects the shift in exploration strategy for the project.
The new approach is to focus on defining higher-grade units within neighbouring priority kimberlites, and to consider them in combination as a single resource, rather than assessing the average grades of individual bodies.
This has the advantage of increasing the size of the potential resource and facilitating economies of scale to be achieved from a large-scale mining operation.
Previous program results that improved the geological definition and identified units within the kimberlites, containing relatively higher grades, have contributed to the shift in strategy.
The staged approach taken during the exploration program has provided De Beers with a greater confidence in understanding the geology and has provided a model to guide further exploration activities.
De Beers current emphasis is on moving the project towards a decision regarding pre-feasibility as quickly as possible.
Future work planned includes:
* Drilling eight large diameter (36 inch/914mm) mini-bulk sampling holes in bodies 140/141 and 122 to obtain a small macrodiamond sample of approximately 100 carats. The objective is to estimate diamond revenue for the high-grade units and to confirm the microdiamond predicted grades. A follow-up program for the second quarter of 2005 is being considered.
* An HQ core (63mm) drilling program on three of the next most prospective kimberlites in the southern portion of the claims to test for higher grade areas.
* An NQ core (47mm) drilling programme to test newly defined kimberlite targets in the southern claim area, which were identified by airborne magnetic and electromagnetic surveys. This includes testing the large gravity anomaly to the east of body 150.
2003 programme
* The budget for the 2003 core drilling and microdiamond sampling programme was CDN $3 million and the results were encouraging. The program, which was successfully completed in November 2003, focused on obtaining samples from high priority kimberlites 140/141 and 122.
* Results of the 2003 programme were presented in June 2004, by De Beers Mineral Resource Management Department to the joint venture. Preliminary results indicate that the higher-grade units of kimberlite bodies 140/141, 148 and 122 defined in the 2003/2004 work programme range from 29 million tonnes to 156 million tones with average grades of seven carats to 16 carats per hundred tonnes.
* Much of the work in recent years has focused on mapping, delineating and sampling of the various units within the complex 140/141 kimberlite in order to develop a comprehensive geological model of the body.
* In 2003, De Beers commenced an update of the conceptual study, originally done by Fluor Daniel Wright in 1996. This study was important to help the joint venture develop a preliminary understanding of the project economics in this region of Saskatchewan and will ultimately assist in directing future bulk sample programmes on various kimberlites that make up the Fort à la Corne province.
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