Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. yesterday released the results of its latest drilling programme and announced the recovery of microdiamonds from the recently discovered Wilson kimberlite at Gahcho Kué in Canada, stating that the findings indicate that the discovery made earlier this year has a positive potential to contribute to the mine.

Under the current part of the programme, 1.7 tonnes of kimberlite recovered from two drillholes at Wilson yielded 86 diamonds greater than 0.85mm recovered that weigh a total of 2.33 carats, the company said. The ore was treated for microdiamond recovery at the Saskatchewan Research Council and a total of 5,564 diamonds were recovered in the +0.075mm size classes, including the above-mentioned 86, it added.

Mountain Province also noted that delineation drilling for Wilson has been completed with ten new drillholes intersecting a total of 409 meters of kimberlite over the 2,897 meter drilling programme.

President and CEO of Mountain Province Stuart Brown commented: "These results, that follow on the discovery of Wilson earlier this year, are evidence that the life of the Gahcho Kué Mine is still an open-ended opportunity. Wilson has the potential to make a valuable contribution to the mine, and it represents only the early results of our combined exploration efforts with De Beers to continue to add value through further discovery in the area."

Three-dimensional modeling has confirmed that Wilson is elongated north-south and has roughly vertical contacts with country rock along its length, with a greater volume of kimberlite to the north. Mountain Province reported. Drilling completed since the last update for Wilson has also confirmed that several ancillary kimberlite sheets exist east of and adjacent to the Wilson body, it said.

Emphasising that the drilling results for the Wilson kimberlite are not sufficiently well-constrained to define a Mineral Resource, and as such the Wilson kimberlite is considered a Target for Further Exploration (TFFE), the company stated that based on drilling and 3D modeling to date, a potential range from 2.0-3.0 million tonnes is possible for the Wilson kimberlite.

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MOUNTAIN PROVINCE PROVIDES ADDITIONAL MICRODIAMOND AND DRILLING RESULTS FOR WILSON KIMBERLITE AT GAHCHO KUÉ

TSX and NASDAQ: MPVD

TORONTO and NEW YORK, Dec. 23, 2019 /CNW/ - Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. ("Mountain Province", the "Company") (TSX and NASDAQ: MPVD) provides additional microdiamond and delineation results for the Wilson kimberlite that was discovered earlier this year and lies within the open pit mine plan for the Tuzo kimberlite.

Highlights:

New microdiamond results from 1.7 tonnes of drill core

Eighty-six diamonds greater than 0.85mm recovered that weigh a total of 2.33 carats

New drilling includes an additional 409 meters of kimberlite from ten drillholes

A total of 1.7 tonnes of kimberlite recovered from two drillholes at Wilson was treated for microdiamond recovery at the Saskatchewan Research Council with a total of 5,564 diamonds recovered in the +0.075mm size classes, including eighty-six +0.85mm diamonds weighing a total of 2.23 carats. Delineation drilling for Wilson has also been completed with ten new drillholes intersecting a total of 409 meters of kimberlite over the 2,897 meter drilling program.

President and CEO of Mountain Province Stuart Brown commented: "These results, that follow on the discovery of Wilson earlier this year, are evidence that the life of the Gahcho Kué Mine is still an open-ended opportunity. Wilson has the potential to make a valuable contribution to the mine, and it represents only the early results of our combined exploration efforts with De Beers to continue to add value through further discovery in the area."

The Wilson discovery was announced in June 2019 as a result of renewed exploration in the immediate area surrounding the Gahcho Kué kimberlites. At that time, eighteen drillholes had been completed at Wilson and preliminary microdiamond results for 113 kilograms of kimberlite were reported (see news release June 11, 2019). Drilling completed since has an additional ten drillholes that have further delineated the Wilson body, as well as kimberlite sheets that occur adjacent to and west of Wilson. These latest drilling results are summarized in the table below. 

Three-dimensional modeling has confirmed that Wilson is elongated north-south and has roughly vertical contacts with country rock along its length, with a greater volume of kimberlite to the north. Drilling completed since the last update for Wilson has also confirmed that several ancillary kimberlite sheets exist east of and adjacent to the Wilson body. Images of the Wilson kimberlite in plan and cross-sectional view are provided in the images below. 

After preliminary logging at the mine site, drill core was secured and shipped to a logging facility located in Calgary, Alberta that is operated by De Beers Technical Services. After the core was logged in detail, it was decided that drillholes MPV-19-496C and MPV-19-501C should be sampled in entirety for microdiamond analysis. Representative samples were preserved from both drillholes, and the rest was shipped in secure containers to the Geoanalytical Laboratories Diamond Services of the Saskatchewan Research Council ("SRC") for caustic fusion recovery of microdiamonds. A total of 1,702 kilograms of kimberlite was treated for microdiamonds, with 5,560 diamonds recovered from the +0.075mm size classes. Eighty-six +0.85mm diamonds recovered from the two drillholes weigh a total of 2.33 carats. The results are summarized in the table below and include those reported in June 2019 from the discovery drillhole MPV-19-496C.

Security and chain of custody protocols were in place during the transit of the drill core from the minesite, and sampling and shipping the kimberlite core samples from Calgary to the SRC. The SRC is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard by the Standards Council of Canada as a testing laboratory for diamond analysis using caustic fusion.

The drilling results for the Wilson kimberlite are not sufficiently well-constrained to define a Mineral Resource, and as such the Wilson kimberlite is considered a Target for Further Exploration (TFFE). Based on drilling and 3D modeling to date, a potential range from 2.0-3.0 million tonnes is possible for the Wilson kimberlite. The estimate of a TFFE is conceptual in nature as there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource, and it is uncertain if future exploration will result in the estimate being delineated as a Mineral Resource. Petrographic and geochemical analysis of the core to define internal lithologies for Wilson is ongoing with results expected in early 2020.