By Thia James

Diamond explorer and First Nation encouraged by find

Nov 12, 2013 | 5:31 AM

Just north of Deschambeault Lake in northern Saskatchewan, a growing Canadian diamond company has made a significant discovery – one that is encouraging it to continue moving forward with its mining project. It’s a discovery that’s also encouraging for the surrounding First Nation community.

On Tuesday, North Arrow Minerals announced that it discovered a high amount of microdiamonds in kimberlite rock samples taken at its Pikoo project. Kimberlite is a kind of rock known for being a common host rock for diamonds.

North Arrow President and CEO Ken Armstrong said Tuesday’s announcement was a follow-up to an announcement the company made earlier this year when the company discovered the kimberlite. “It confirms that at least one of the kimberlites that we found in the drilling program that we completed in July contains diamonds, and the diamond counts are significant for a project of this very early stage.”

The find is also encouraging for the surrounding community, the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. The diamond find has the potential to bring more jobs and added prosperity to the people who live around Deschambeault Lake.

Chief Peter Beatty said on Friday that he hopes to make contact with the leaseholder of the land the mining operation is taking place on, Stornoway Diamonds, as well as the company funding the diamond exploration, North Arrow Minerals.

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“It’s kind of overwhelming to hear that we had so many diamonds in our backyard,” he said.

Beatty said this provides the people of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation a bit of an opportunity to get involved in a new development, if that’s the way it goes. “We’re hoping to be a part of it so that our people can find employment, gainful employment and improve our situation on our reserves. Not only here, but on Pelican Narrows as well, because it’s in their territory. Sandy Bay, all of our surrounding communities, you know, on Peter Ballantyne.

“So, I hope that we are involved in some way in the development of this new find. You know, from all indications it seems that it’s probably going to be a viable mine.”

He does, however, note that it takes a long time for a project to go into production after it is found to be viable.

But the other big issue arising from the project is the impact on the community and the traditional territory, Beatty said. “Because that is traditional territory. And we have trappers, active trappers right in that area, because it’s only six kilometres from our community. So, there will be some impacts in terms of hunting, fishing, trapping and … gathering. So those are the things we want to discuss with Stornoway or whoever the proponent is going to be.”

The proponent is North Arrow, and Armstrong said working with the community is part of what exploration companies at the earliest stages need to do.

“So, we have been in contact with the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation from the start, originally with our partner Stornoway Diamonds, and North Arrow will be sort of taking that over, largely with the same people on our side,” he said.

During this past summer’s drilling program, North Arrow hired people from the surrounding communities to help with the work. In the early stages of exploration, there aren’t many people working, Armstrong said.

“But as the program grows, you absolutely need to have the local communities involved in that process and aware of what’s going on and looking for opportunities for them to benefit from the work that’s happening.”

The diamond find that’s bringing hope to both sides

The drilling operation this past summer uncovered what Armstrong referred to as macro-diamonds, which are larger than 0.85 millimetres. “Which is still very small, but that’s significant, because in finding those diamonds, it gives encouragement that with more work, and bigger samples … you would find larger diamonds that could be used in jewelry as a possibility.”

The diamonds are also clear, white and have good crystal forms, Armstrong said.

And right now, the project is still in the exploration stages, so a timeline for production is not possible, he added. “The next stages will involve … further exploration-type work, drilling to determine the size of the kimberlite that we’ve got this sample from, and also to try to find more kimberlite.”

The project is located in what’s known as the Sask Craton, which North Arrow sees as “very prospective” for diamonds. Armstrong said the area where the Pikoo project is located is at the northern end of this area.

“And it was targeted for that reason, it’s an area where, there’s not a lot of overburden, and has pretty good access with roads and so on.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames