TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Peregrine Diamonds has found large diamonds and a coarse diamond size distribution in drill core samples collected from the CH-6 kimberlite, on its Chidliak project, in Canada's Nunavut territory.
A 398,8-kg sample collected from CH-6 yielded 2 730 diamonds larger than the 0,075 mm sieve size, including 131 diamonds larger than the 0,600 mm sieve size, the company said on Monday.
The largest diamond recovered from the sample was a 0,62 ct white, transparent aggregate.
The CH-5 kimberlite was also determined to be diamondiferous, with a 423.7 kg surface sample yielding 49 diamonds larger than the 0,075 mm sieve size.
"We believe these microdiamond counts from CH-6 are some of the best results in the history of Canadian diamond exploration and a testament to the outstanding potential of Chidliak,” Peregrine CEO Eric Friedland said in a statement.
Thirty of the 62 diamonds larger than the 0.85 mm sieve size from CH-6 were classified as having a white colour, eighteen were described as off-white, ten were yellow and four were grey or brown.
Peregrine reported the discovery of the CH-6 kimberlite on August 6. The company has already found a total of 16 kimberlites at Chidliak, several of which have been confirmed as diamondiferous.
"The microdiamond results from CH-6 are some of the strongest I have seen in my 27 year career in diamond exploration and to my knowledge, are the best publicly disclosed microdiamond results from a Canadian kimberlite since the discovery of the A-154 pipe at Diavik in the Northwest Territories in 1994,” Peregrine president Brooke Clements said.
“Having just completed our first drill programme at Chidliak, we are at the start of the exploration cycle and we expect to discover more kimberlites with the economic potential of CH-1 and CH-6.”
Over the next few months Peregine will receive diamond results from 11 additional kimberlites discovered this year, and from a 50 t sample collected from CH-1.
“We are confident that more diamondiferous kimberlites will be discovered during the 2010 field programme,” Clements added.
Peregrine is the operator of the 2009 Chidliak exploration programme, which is being fully funded by BHP Billiton, after the mining giant opted to exercise its earn in rights on the project.
BHP can spend $22,3-million on exploration to earn a 51% interest in Chidliak.