Alluvial diamonds found near Wawa

Diamond fever has gripped Wawa following the discovery of two alluvial diamonds and several indicator mineral grains in the Michipicoten River Basin.

The rush was precipitated by prospector “Mickey” Clement’s discovery of two diamonds while panning for gold in the Dead River, an old tributary of the Michipicoten. Earlier this fall, Wawa consultant Seymour Sears reported the find, made in 1991, to Ronald Sage, a geoscientist with the Ontario Geological Survey (OGS), who is familiar with the northeastern Ontario camp. Sage took Clement’s two specimens to the Royal Ontario Museum where they were confirmed to be inclusion-bearing diamonds weighing 1.05 and 1.13 carats. Sage and fellow OGS geoscientist Thomas Morris subsequently carried out preliminary sampling of sands and gravels in and around Dead River and Wawa Creek. Ten samples yielded nine chrome diopsides and one G10 pyrope garnet. Most of the indicator minerals were found near the Dead River site, about 6 km southwest of Wawa.

The discovery has apparently triggered a staking rush in at least two townships, although this rumor had not been confirmed at presstime. In response to the find, the OGS is contemplating surface sampling and bedrock mapping for next season.