North Arrow Minerals Inc. has discovered a new kimberlite at its Loki Diamond Project, Northwest Territories, the first new kimberlite find in over five years in the Lac de Gras region.

Kimberlite indicator minerals (KIM) were recovered from two of four drill holes across three targets that were explored during the winter drilling programme, the Company said. While the KIM from Drill Hole 18-465-02 at Target 465 included altered olivine and rare garnet, at Drill Hole18-EG05-05 at Target EG05, resedimented volcaniclastic kimberlite was discovered below 17.5m of ice, water and overburden and ended in volcaniclastic kimberlite at a depth of 169m.

Winter drilling at the Loki Project has now wrapped up, North Arrow said. Planning is underway for a summer drilling campaign to continue evaluating this prospective area of the Lac de Gras region, the miner stated.

The Loki diamond project lies approximately 30 km southwest, and 24 km west of the Ekati and Diavik diamond mines, respectively, and is immediately adjacent to the west of North Arrow's LDG Joint Venture Diamond Project with Dominion Diamond Mines.

Ken Armstrong, North Arrow's President and CEO stated, “To my knowledge, this represents the first public announcement of a new kimberlite discovery in the Lac de Gras region in over 5 years. The discovery of kimberlite 465 follows on North Arrow's September 2017 discovery of a new diamondiferous kimberlite field at our Mel Project, Nunavut, and confirms North Arrow's position as a leading junior diamond exploration company in Canada.”

The finding indicates that the Lac de Gras region which hosts a kimberlite field that has already produced in excess of $20 billion in rough diamonds over the last 20 years, remains prospective for new discoveries,  Armstrong opined. “North Arrow is planning drilling campaigns at both Mel and Loki during the summer of 2018 as well as at our LDG Joint Venture property with partner Dominion Diamond Mines,” he concluded.

Pic caption: Drilling operations at EG05 at Loki Diamond Project
Pic courtesy: North Arrow Minerals