Artemis Gold’s Blackwater mine at final commissioning stage
Artemis now expects to feed first ore to the ball mill in the next few weeks and continues to target first gold pour before year end.
Exploring Canada’s forbidding Northwest Territories has paid off for Canadian junior Kennady Diamonds (TSX-V:KDI): The company announced on Monday that this year’s drilling at the Kennady North project produced results which “far exceeded” the miner’s expectations.
CEO Patrick Evans said 2013 has been a “remarkably successful” year.
Two drilling programs on the company’s Kelvin kimberlite recovered 4.3 tonnes of kimberlite containing more than 16,000 microdiamonds of which 474 are commerical-sized.
The average sample grade from summertime drilling was 4.56 carats per tonne. The winter drilling program returned a sample grade 8.13 carats per tonne.
“These are amongst the highest kimberlite sample grades ever recorded and confirm that the Kelvin kimberlite has both a coarse diamond size distribution as well as the potential to host a high grade diamond resource,” the company said in a statement released this week.
Some of the largest diamonds recovered from the Kelvin 2013 summer drill program include a 1.06 off-white, transparent rock. The winter program’s highlight was a 2.47 carat diamond.
About 60% of the gems recovered this year are classified as white and transparent, and about 2% are classified as yellow and transparent.
Both the summer and winter sessions provided approximately one commercial size diamond for every nine kilograms of kimberlite, showing a “high degree of consistency,” the company noted.
Kennady is now preparing for the 2014 winter exploration program which will include targets beyond the Kelvin kimberlite. The company also plans to publish a maiden resource statement for the Kennady North project during the fourth quarter of 2014.
Kennady controls 100% of Kennady North which is made up of 13 leases and land claims. The project neighbours the Gahcho Kue joint venture between De Beers Canada and Mountain Province.
Despite the news, Kennady’s share price was down nearly 5% on Tuesday, trading at $5.00 per share.
