North Arrow Minerals Sends Sample For Checking

(IDEX Online News) – A bulk sample from the largest diamondiferous kimberlite pipe in the eastern Canadian Arctic is scheduled to arrive in Montreal next week. Diamond processing will be conducted throughout the fall before the final parcel makes its way to Antwerp for an official diamond valuation.

The sample contains over 1,500 tonnes of ore from a 12.5-hectare kimberlite referred to as Q1-4. The kimberlite is one of eight pipes discovered at North Arrow Minerals' and Stornoway Diamonds' Qilalugaq project, regarded as a promising diamond exploration project.

Qilalugaq holds 7,000 hectares of contiguous mineral claims in northeastern Nunavut, and the Q1-4 pipe already has a mineral resource of 48.8 million tonnes equating to an inferred resource of over 25 million carats of diamonds.

"The pending diamond valuation is perhaps the most significant catalyst since BHP Billiton originally staked the property in 2001," North Arrow Minerals said in a statement. "An official diamond valuation will accompany official tonnage and grade estimates providing the final data point needed to extrapolate the potential economic value of Q1-4 and the Qilalugaq project as a whole."

"Qilalugaq has never really been anyone's primary project so it hasn't had the profile it might otherwise have had, if say a junior company had made the initial discovery," North Arrow CEO Ken Armstrong told the Financial Press of Canada. "Q1-4 is rather unique in terms of its size and location near the ocean."

The project is 80 percent owned by North Arrow and 20 percent by partner Stornoway, which is also developing the Renard mine project.