Peregine wraps up bulk sampling at Nunavut diamond property

This is what a drill sample of kimberlite looks like. (FILE PHOTO)

Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. reported April 23 that a bulk sample weighing approximately 508 tonnes was collected from the CH-6 kimberlite on the company’s Chidliak project, 120 kilometres from Iqaluit.

The Vancouver-based diamond exploration company runs the 858,000-hectare Chidliak project, which includes 61 kimberlite deposits, which typically contain diamonds.

One deposit in particular, the CH-6 kimberlite, has a grade of 2.84 carats of diamonds per tonne of kimberlite rock.

Peregrine formed a partnership with De Beers Canada Ltd. in September 2012 to help finance the Chidliak project and share developmental risks.

According to their agreement, De Beers holds an option to enter into a joint venture with Peregrine that would give De Beers majority ownership of the Chidliak property.

But the company said April 23 that it doesn’t plan to do anything with the samples until De Beers gives Peregrine binding notice of its decision regarding De Beer’s right to enter into an earn-in and joint venture agreement for Chidliak or that right expires.

To date, about 325 tonnes of the 508-tonne bulk sample from the CH-6 kimberlite have been transported to Iqaluit where the sample remain in storage until the summer when it will be transported to Montreal on the sealift, Peregrine said in its April 23 news release.

The sample is currently scheduled to be processed by the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon by the last quarter or 2013.

But Peregrine says it won’t start processing of the bulk sample until its relationship with DeBeers is clear.

Peregrine’s plans to use the diamond grade and value information from the bulk sample and information acquired from core drill programs conducted in 2009, 2010 and 2011 to develop a preliminary revenue model and establish an initial resource for the diamond-rich kimberlite.

This work will serve “as a foundation for future independent resource calculations” and, with the mining study being completed by De Beers, lead to a preliminary economic assessment for CH-6 in the first half of 2014.

A 14-tonne mini-bulk sample collected from CH-6 returned a grade of 2.84 carats per tonne.

“If that grade is confirmed with further testing, CH-6 would be one of the highest grade kimberlite pipes in the world,” Peregrine said.