Location: Lac de Gras, Northwest Territories - 290 km northeast of Yellowknife (see interactive map on DigiGeoData)
Size: 148,546 hectares
Ownership: ~21% North Arrow, ~79% Arctic Canadian Diamond Company
Stage: exploratory drilling
Closest Infrastructure: Diavik diamond mine 10 km to northeast; Ekati mine located 20 km north; ice road comes through property boundary
The Lac de Gras Project consists of 149,621 hectares located in the Lac de Gras kimberlite field, close to two of the world’s richest diamond mines: Diavik and Ekati. North Arrow considers the area to have significant exploration potential for the discovery of new diamondiferous kimberlites. Exploration of the Project is conducted under joint venture agreement with Arctic Canadian Diamond Company (ACDC; formerly Dominion Diamond Corporation). ACDC is the joint venture operator.
Previous work in the project area has included airborne surveys, till sampling, ground geophysics and limited diamond drilling. Untested geophysical anomalies and unexplained geochemical anomalies remain, but the glacial history of the project area south of Lac de Gras is considered to be complex, having been exposed to multiple glacial events.
In 2017, the LDG Joint Venture conducted airborne and ground geophysical surveys, including a 5,567 line km VTEM Plus survey of the southern part of the Project area where previous airborne geophysical coverage consisted only of wide spaced fixed wing magnetic surveys. Additionally, 22 ground geophysical survey grids were completed during 2017 spring and fall field programs. The ground surveys consisted of magnetic, electromagnetic and/or gravity surveys testing priority targets selected from compilation work completed in 2016 and preliminary survey results from the 2017 airborne survery. Drilling was conducted in the spring and summer of 2018 but did not intersect any new kimberlites.
Work continued in the spring of 2019 with ground geophysics conducted over untested airborne targets. The targets that required further explanation were the focus of a summer drill program that commenced in early July. Kimberlite was encountered in 6 of 7 drill holes that tested the Anchor target area and samples were taken for microdiamond testing.
On January 20, 2019 North Arrow announced that the Anchor kimberlite was diamondiferous. The intersections were described as a dark grey to black, fine grained, macrocryst-poor, monticellite to carbonate coherent kimberlite. Despite demonstrating a small-sized, or 'fine' population of microdiamonds, the amount of diamonds recovered in such a fine grained kimberlite is considered encouraging. A kimberlite indicator mineral (KIM) characterization study is underway to compare the Anchor kimberlite mantle sample with the distribution of KIMs in the local till sample database to aid in identifying additional drill targets in the area. This work is part of a full review of the project database that is presently underway, including results from LIDAR surveying, ground geophysical surveys, prospecting, till suitability mapping, geophysical anomaly checking and till sampling.
A budget of $3.5M was approved for the 2020 exploration season and the program commenced in late February of that year but due to the COVID 19 pandemic the program was shut down a couple weeks later in mid-March. Next steps for exploration are being determined by the Joint Venture.
North Arrow retains an approximate 21% interest in the joint venture.
