By Glenn Hicks

Diamond project set for major sample drilling

Sep 17, 2018 | 3:10 PM

The company which owns the rights for the Star-Orion South Diamond Project in the Fort a la Corne diamond district, about 60 kilometres east of Prince Albert, says it is encouraged by the level and rate of activity ahead of planned bulk sampling. However, there is no indication yet as to when full mining operations might begin.

Mining giant Rio Tinto Exploration Canada (RTEC) has indicated it is on schedule to start the drilling this year to determine if the key areas of two deposits (Star and Orion South) meet their requirements to make a go of it.

“The on-site camp has recently been completely commissioned and is already full of people,” Senior Vice President Exploration and Development for Star Diamond Corporation George Read told paNOW. “The roads have been substantially rehabilitated, a bridge has been put in on the Shipman Trail, and there are vast improvements across the site.”

Read added the Trench Cutter Sampling Rig, which would bore up to 250 metres below the surface, was “essentially built” and ready to drill the planned 30 very wide holes to help determine what sort of diamond yield there may be.

“You need large samples from kimberlite in order to get a representative sample to determine diamond grade and price,” he said.

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The material from [the drilling] will be processed through an on-site diamond recovery plant, the diamonds will be recovered at an off-site laboratory, and those numbers will be generated as quickly as they can, weather permitting, he explained. Read said Rio Tinto had stated the processing plant had already been manufactured and tested in South Africa and was currently being shipped to Canada.

However, he added there was no indication as to when Rio Tinto might exercise their option to commence operations.

“Obviously Rio needs to do their homework first to prove it meets their satisfaction,” Read said. “Certainly Star Diamond Corporation is very optimistic about the potential because there is a very unique diamond population with high values and the potential for some extremely large stones in future.” Read said previous sampling had uncovered a total of 15,000 carats with stones up to 49 carats in size.

Read said their independent preliminary economic assessment in April, submitted in terms of the rules and regulations of the TSX, stated that “66 million carats can be economically recovered over the 34-year life-of-mine. “We believe Rio Tinto can certainly achieve that,” he noted. The report showed a Net Present Value of $2 billion.

Star Diamond Corporation holds a 100 per cent interest in the claims in the Forte a la Corne kimberlite district. In terms of their relationship with the mining company, Read explained as Rio Tinto did work it would have four stages of options whereby they could earn up to 60 per cent of the project with Star Diamond retaining a 40 per cent stake in the final stage.

Editor’s note: the story has been amended to correct the name of the Shipman trail.

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow