|
RAPAPORT... Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. estimated inferred mineral resources of 7.47 million carats of diamonds to a depth of 250 meters, based upon its maiden report of the CH-6 kimberlite pipe at the Chidliak diamond property in Canada. Production grade totaled 2.58 carats per tonne of ore and an average price of $213 per carat, modeled from within the range of $163 to $236 that was determined earlier by WWW International Diamond Consultants. The report estimated between 2.6 million tonnes and 3.47 million tonnes of kimberlite ore was worth targeting for further exploration and Peregrine is planning a core drilling program at CH-6 in an effort to convert the tonnage estimate into an inferred resource.
Tonnage estimates were also completed for the CH-7 and CH-44 kimberlites with CH-7 in the range of 2.75 million tonnes and 3.97 million tonnes from the surface to a depth of 280 meters, while CH-44 was between 1.16 million tonnes and 2.05 million tonnes from surface to a depth of 230 meters. A mini-bulk sample collected from the surface of CH-7 in 2011 returned a grade of 1.04 carats per tonne, while CH-44 is a target for future bulk sampling. New caustic fusion diamond results from the CH-7 and CH-44 kimberlites will be reported this quarter. The CH-6 kimberlite has a surface expression of approximately one hectare and is open at depth. The inferred mineral resource estimate was determined by integrating kimberlite volume with density, petrology and diamond content data utilizing a geological model prepared by Peregrine personnel and reviewed by Geostrat Consulting Services.
The National Instrument 43-101 standards and Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy guidelines stipulate that a mineral resource needs to have a "reasonable prospect of economic extraction." In assessing whether the CH-6 inferred resource met this standard, Geostrat considered publicly available costs from northern Canadian diamond projects relative to the total estimated in-situ value of the CH-6 mineral resource and concluded that there was a reasonable prospect of economic extraction.
|