Kennady Diamonds has completed processing of the Kelvin 436 tonne bulk sample.
“The primary purpose of the 2015 Kelvin bulk sample program is to recover a sufficiently large diamond parcel to allow a preliminary diamond valuation,” said the company’s chief executive officer (CEO) Patrick Evans.
“The bulk sample was recovered by drilling on ice at the southeast lobe of Kelvin, areas where the kimberlite outcrops at surface and also where the country rock cover is relatively thin. Although the internal country rock dilution appears to be higher in this area, targeting the southeast lobe reduced the drilling costs compared with the deeper north lobe of Kelvin, which appears to be less diluted.”
The bulk sample was processed at the Geoanalytical Laboratories Diamond Services of the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), which is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) as a testing laboratory for diamond analysis. SRC is sorting diamonds and conducting a diamond breakage study, which is expected to be completed by the end of August.
Last winter, Kennady recovered a 25-tonne mini-bulk sample from the southeast lobe of Kelvin that returned a sample grade of 1.79 carats per tonne. This is the same area where the Kelvin 436 tonne bulk sample was recovered. A subsequent 19-tonne mini-bulk sample from the less diluted north lobe of Kelvin returned a sample grade of 2.59 carats per tonne.
WWW International Diamond Consultants has been retained to provide an independent valuation of the Kelvin bulk sample diamonds and to develop size frequency distribution and revenue models. This work will commence in Antwerp early next month and is expected to be completed by October.
