New discovery at Gahcho Kué mine could be good news for N.W.T., company bottom line – by Walter Strong (CBC News North – June 12, 2019)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

The discovery of a new kimberlite pipe at the Gahcho Kué diamond mine could be good news for Mountain Province Diamonds and De Beers Canada, the co-owners of the mine, and for the Northwest Territories.

The diamond bearing, underground rock — named the Wilson kimberlite after Alice Evelyn Wilson, Canada’s first female geologist — is the first kimberlite discovery at Gahcho Kué in 20 years.

It is too soon to say if the new discovery will prove to be economically viable, but Mountain Province CEO Stuart Brown says drill sample results are promising.

“We still haven’t yet fully ascertained the full size of the kimberlite,” Brown said. “We have to do a lot more work on it, but it gives us a signal that — two things — that it’s a very prospective area, we are discovering more kimberlite at a mine that’s quite mature now, and that shows us the mine will … have a potentially longer life which means good things for the Northwest Territories.”

After emphasizing the preliminary nature of the results, the company states in a press that the Wilson pipe has a “potential range from 1.5 – 3.0 million tonnes” of ore. The grade per tonne at the mine’s three other pipes (5034, Hearne, and Tuzo) ranges from 1.22 carats per tonne to 1.99 carats per tonne.

For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/new-kimberlite-pipe-discovered-gahcho-kue-1.5172743