Statistically, the odds of finding a diamond mine in the Slave province of the Northwest Territories are less than 1-in-10, registrants were told at a recent short course on diamond exploration and evaluation, held in Toronto.
Diamond consultant Bram Janse went on to say that “once you find a cluster with diamondiferous pipes, the chance that you will get a mine is about five or ten percent.”
Globally, about 3% of kimberlite pipes underlain by Archean basement rocks (or Archons) become mines.
Janse bases his analysis on the ratio of economic and diamondiferous to barren kimberlites — globally, regionally and locally. His estimates do not take into account recent bulk-sampling, geochemical and geophysical results from the Territories.
The 30-35 million acres staked in the Slave province correlates with the average area within which kimberlite occurrences are normally concentrated, Janse said.
Those occurrences can be grouped into fields, each field averaging about 400,000 acres. The claim block secured by partners Dia Met Minerals and BHP Minerals Canada (TSE), around the Point Lake diamond find, measures 800,000 acres.
In the Kimberley field of South Africa, five out of 20 pipes are economic, and the economic ones are about two miles apart. In Russia’s new Arkhangel field, 1,500 anomalies yielded 200 pipes, 26 of which are diamond-bearing and five economic.
An estimated 100 targets will be drill-tested in the Northwest Territories this year.
The popular course was co-chaired by Patricia Sheahan of Konsult International and Andrew Chater of Teddy Bear Valley Mines (CDN).
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