Arctic Blue Diamonds has announced the acquisition of an 89.7% interest in Canada's WO Diamond Project, which includes the high-grade DO27 kimberlite, one of the country's largest diamond-bearing kimberlites.
The company acquired a 72.1% interest held by Peregrine Diamonds, a De Beers Canada subsidiary, and an additional 17.6% interest from Archon Minerals.
As the new operator of the WO Joint Venture, Arctic Blue will now manage the diamond marketing rights for future production from the project.
The WO project spans eight mining leases across 5,815 hectares, located near key infrastructure including the Diavik and Ekati diamond mines.
The DO27 kimberlite pipe, with a surface area of nine hectares, is situated beneath a shallow lake with an area of about 1km² and an average depth of 4m.
It has been extensively explored, with 114 core holes and 46 large diameter reverse circulation holes drilled to date, revealing a significant indicated mineral resource of 19.5 million tonnes (mt) containing 18.2 million carats at a grade of 0.94 carats per tonne (cpt).
Arctic Blue executive chair Patrick Evans stated: “As some of the existing diamond mines approach the end of their economic lives, DO27 offers the opportunity to extend the life of the existing diamond plants by producing a very high-grade diamond concentrate of over 80 carats per tonne suitable for shipment to existing diamond recovery facilities, or alternatively to a purpose-built facility in Yellowknife.”
“The extremely soft nature of the DO27 ore also opens the potential for the deployment of underwater remote mining (URM) technology. Kimberlites with soft, low-density ore can be mined most efficiently using URM systems. Besides offering exceptionally low capital and operating cost opportunities, URM is the most sustainable form of mining, with minimal impact on the environment.”
The WO Project is currently on care and maintenance. Arctic Blue plans to conduct environmental, geological and engineering studies to evaluate the development potential of the DO27 kimberlite.
This includes considering the use of URM technology and the production of a high-grade diamond concentrate for offsite processing and diamond recovery.
