Now read this!Snowfield gets approval for Ticho land use permit
2004-08-23 05:10 ET - News Release
Mr. Robert Paterson reports
TICHO DIAMOND PROJECT LAND USE PERMIT APPROVED BY MINISTER
Snowfield Development Corp. has learned that the honourable Andy Scott, PC, MP, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Canada, has executed a letter dated Aug. 19, 2004, adopting the revised recommendations of the MacKenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board with respect to the environmental assessment of Snowfield's application to the Mackenzie Valley Land & Water Board seeking a Class A land use permit for a period of five years covering exploration activities on Snowfield's Ticho diamond exploration project. The Ticho project, located approximately 50 kilometres southeast of Yellowknife, NWT, near Drybones Bay, includes the Mud Lake kimberlite complex discovered by Snowfield in 2003.
Previously, on Jan. 13, 2004, the review board held a public hearing in Yellowknife, NWT, with respect to the environmental assessment and thereafter, on Feb. 26, 2004, the review board announced that it had recommended that Snowfield's development proceed to the regulatory phase of approvals subject to a number of recommended measures to mitigate impacts of the proposed development. Two of the review board's Feb. 26 recommended measures with respect to winter exploration work were contradictory and effectively precluded the issuance of the land use permit. Following lengthy interdepartmental/agency consultations, the previous Minister of Indian and Northern Development, the honourable Andy Mitchell, PC, MP, by letter dated June 17, 2004, directed the review board to consult with regional government departments/agencies with respect to modifications to the recommendations proposed by Mr. Mitchell's department. On July 7, 2004, the review board advised Mr. Mitchell that it had met with the various regional government departments/agencies and had approved rewording of its recommended measures. Those revised recommended measures were adopted in Mr. Scott's letter of Aug. 19, 2004.
The review board's revised recommendations, as adopted in Mr. Scott's letter of Aug. 19, 2004, with respect to the environmental assessment of Snowfield's application to the Mackenzie Valley Land & Water Board seeking a Class A land use permit for a period of five years covering exploration activities on Snowfield's Ticho diamond exploration project, state:
"Snowfield will not commence any development activity requiring a land use permit, either within or outside of the three-kilometre Shoreline zone, until an archaeological impact assessment detailing suspected archaeological, historical, burial or cultural sites has been completed by a qualified archaeologist accompanied by an aboriginal elder and a translator if required.
"Aboriginal parties and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre will provide the locations and the extent of recorded archaeological, historical, burial or cultural sites to Snowfield for its claim blocks.
"Snowfield will maintain a 100-metre buffer around all known and suspected archaeological, historical, burial or cultural sites."
With respect to the review board recommendation requiring Snowfield to complete an archaeological impact assessment prior to commencing any development work requiring a land use permit on Snowfield's Ticho project, Snowfield reports that following consultation during May, 2004, with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, Callum Thomson, principal of Thomson Heritage Consultants, was retained as the archaeologist of record for Snowfield's Ticho diamond project. Mr. Thomson applied for and received an archaeologists permit for the year ending Dec. 31, 2004, from the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre covering, amongst others, the areas proposed for exploration by Snowfield. Mr. Thomson undertook a preliminary helicopter and surface archaeological survey on May 14 and 16, 2004, and during the period July 4 through July 9, 2004, Mr. Thomson, accompanied by YKDFN elders Alfred Baillargeon and Modeste Sangris, and their assistants Morris Martin and Paul McDonald, undertook a detailed archaeological impact assessment of those areas scheduled for exploration by Snowfield during the forthcoming year. In his "Interim Report On An Archaeological Assessment Of Exploration Claim Blocks Between Drybone Bay and Matonabbee Bay, Great Slave Lake," dated July 9, 2004 (the Thomson No. 1 interim report), Mr. Thomson states: "It is my professional opinion that the likelihood of disturbance of archaeological, and more recent heritage sites and features by Snowfield's mineral exploration in the areas examined, is minimal and that approval should be given, from a cultural heritage perspective, to the program as proposed. It is strongly recommended that the mitigative measures described above (in the Thomson No. 1 interim report) be adopted." Under the terms of his archaeologists permit, Mr. Thomson is required to file his final report on the archaeological survey work undertaken during 2004 on the Ticho project with the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre on, or before, March 31, 2005.
In a complimentary letter dated Aug. 4, 2004, chief Peter Liske of Dettah and chief Darrell Beaulieu of Ndilo of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation expressed their total satisfaction with the archaeological fieldwork undertaken by Snowfield with respect to their heritage resources and Snowfield's willingness to implement the mitigation measures provided by the review board.
Based on the final approval measures contained in Mr. Scott's letter of Aug. 19, 2004, Snowfield anticipates that the board will now issue a Class A land use permit for a period of five years covering exploration activities on Snowfield's Ticho diamond exploration project.
Upon issuance of the land use permit, Snowfield will immediately commence a diamond drilling program using a drill rig already located at the Mud Lake kimberlite site. The initial 20-hole drill program is aimed at delineating the kimberlite body and identifying the kimberlite subcrop. This will be followed by a 500-tonne bulk sample of the kimberlite to test for the presence of diamonds and, if present, to establish a preliminary diamond grade for the kimberlite. This 500-tonne sample will be taken from a number of different areas of the kimberlite. This bulk sample will be a unique opportunity for the company to inexpensively acquire a representative sample of the kimberlite to produce a dense medium separator concentrate for macrodiamond analysis.
Concurrently, a second exploratory drill rig will be mobilized to the Ticho project site to test the geochemical targets identified at Aspen Lake and Pond Lake. These two targets are located approximately 1.5 kilometres northeast of Mud Lake (see news in Stockwatch dated June 8, 2004). Results from till sampling in the Aspen Lake and Pond Lake areas appear to indicate the presence of at least two more kimberlite indicator mineral trains that are separate and distinct from the Mud Lake kimberlite occurrence. The samples from the Aspen Lake and Pond Lake areas all show partial alteration mantles. The identification of partial alteration mantles (kelyphitic rims on the pyrope garnets and perovskite on the ilmenites) on many of the grains from the Aspen Lake and Pond Lake areas is very significant, as it indicates that the source of these grains is probably nearby. An airborne magnetic survey carried out by Snowfield over the area during 2003 revealed distinct magnetic anomalies over both of these lakes.
Further till sampling north of the Aspen Lake and Pond Lake areas is being undertaken with respect to indications of a fourth possible kimberlite in this area. Snowfield currently has a five-person crew on site on the Ticho project undertaking line cutting for the above mentioned till sampling program, cutting claim legal survey lines and also preparing the site for the Pebble Beach crew camp which will be constructed immediately upon issuance of the land use permit. Following issuance of the land use permit, Snowfield anticipates continuous programs of exploration on the Ticho project for the next several months.
Gary Vivian, PGeo, of Aurora Geosciences Ltd., a qualified person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news. Aurora Geosciences Ltd., of Yellowknife, NWT, was retained by Snowfield to provide an independent project overview on the Ticho project.