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Irish explorer Karelian Diamond Resources (AIM: KDR) believes it is getting closer to the source of a rare green diamond it found in 2022 with the completion of a series of a follow-up excavations in an area located in Finland’s Kuhmo region.
Karelian said it has collected twenty-one glacial till samples for analysis and is now preparing for a drilling program in the winter. This campaign would depend on the results of the mineral analysis, which aims to further explore the identified kimberlitic targets.
The company noted that the thickness of the glacial till cover increases up-ice to the north-west towards a swampy area, which is inaccessible to an excavator until the ground is frozen.
Karelian said it had dug as close as possible to the area down-ice that might be the source of the kimberlite minerals and the green diamond. Six possible kimberlite locations, identified earlier using geophysical methods, are in this same zone, it said.
Many of the pits were positioned directly down-ice from these targets, with one pit placed in a straight line up-ice from where the green diamond was found, following the trail of indicator minerals.
The Dublin-based company is simultaneously exploring and advancing other assets in Finland. These include the Lahtojoki deposit, which would become the first diamond mine in the European Union if and when developed.
Karelian recently settled in court differences with the land owners close to Lahtojoki. It is now awaiting a decision from the country’s the National Land Survey to finish establishing the project boundaries.
The company believes the Lahtojoki diamondiferous kimberlite pipe has the potential to become a profitable low strip ratio open pit diamond mine.
The asset is said to contain high-quality white diamonds, as well as pink and other coloured diamonds, which can command prices up to 20 times that their colourless counterparts.
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Dr Daniel K. Shumba
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