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Check out these pictures from North Arrow Minerals’ current bulk sampling program at the Qilalugaq project in Nunavut. The company’s goal is to “determine an early stage sense of value” for the diamonds at the Q1-4 kimberlite.
The central pit at the Q1-4 kimberlite in the early stages of the 1,500-tonne sampling process, July 13, 2014.
North Arrow Minerals (TSXV:NAR) has received a lot of attention here on Diamond Investing News (DIN) for its Saskatchewan-based Pikoo project, where it returned high microdiamond counts at the end of last year.
However, Pikoo isn’t the only project the Canada-focused company has, and this summer, it’s not the only project it’s working on. Indeed, in the last few months, North Arrow has already started and completed a till sampling program at Pikoo, moving on to exploration drilling at the Redemption project, located in the Northwest Territories, and a bulk sampling program at the Qilalugaq project in Nunavut.
It’s the program at Qilalugaq that Nick Thomas, North Arrow’s investor and community relations manager, recently discussed with DIN, providing pictures of the activity taking place there. “North Arrow is in the midst of extracting a 1,500-tonne sample to extract ~500 carats of diamonds for the purpose of determining an early stage sense of value” for the diamonds at the Q1-4 kimberlite, he said.
Excavator operator Grant McFadden prepares the ground of the central pit of the Q1-4 2014 sample location, July 20, 2014.
At 12.5 hectares, Q1-4 is the largest diamondiferous kimberlite in the Canadian Arctic. However, despite its size, it’s just one of the eight kimberlite pipes that make up the Qilalugaq project.
The project has a somewhat storied history, having been staked by BHP Billiton Diamonds in 2006, then optioned by Stornoway Diamond (TSX:SWY) in 2010. At the moment, North Arrow is working to earn an 80-percent interest in the project — the current bulk sampling program is part of the work it must complete to do so.
That said, it’s not the first sampling program that’s been completed at the project. Back in 2007, Stornoway collected a 20.3-tonne sample from the same area that the current sample is being collected; 6.1 carats were recovered at that time for a sample grade of 30 cpht.
Moving forward, investors can expect to see North Arrow send the sample it collects south in late August “using the annual sealift from Repulse Bay.” The company expects processing of the sample for commercial-sized diamonds to start in early October. If all goes well, the diamonds yielded will be sent to Antwerp for valuation in early 2015.
From there, the company will be able to “better determine diamond grade, size distribution, diamond parcel value and to establish whether or not fancy yellow diamonds persist into the larger diamond sizes.” At this point, early stage sampling has pointed to “a potentially important population of yellow diamonds.” As colored diamonds are typically worth much more than white diamonds, their presence could be a boon to North Arrow.
With lots of activity planned for Qilalugaq, North Arrow certainly looks like a company to keep an eye on this summer. Stay tuned for updates.
Got drill pictures?
Is your company hard at work on a project? If so, we’d like to see it. Send pictures of your summer (or latest) drill program to editorial@resourceinvestingnews.com.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Editorial Disclosure: North Arrow Minerals is a client of the Investing News Network. This article is not paid-for content.
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Diamond Mining Hopefuls Follow North Arrow to Saskatchewan
North Arrow Minerals’ Ken Armstrong on Saskatchewan’s New Diamond District