This aerial image shows the construction of the bulk sampling plant where the huge bags of kimberlite samples (in top of image) will be processed to get an idea of the quantity and quality of diamonds in the sample. (Star Diamond Corp.)

By Glenn Hicks

diamond exploration

Year in Review: Diamond exploration progresses east of P.A.

Dec 21, 2019 | 12:45 PM

A project that has been decades in the making and which has the potential to create many hundreds of jobs, saw some significant movement in 2019. However, the parties behind the Fort à la Corne diamond project east of Prince Albert – Rio Tinto Exploration and Star Diamond Corp – remained careful to keep expectations in check and no decision has yet been taken to proceed.

Public information

In February, a conference room in P.A. was packed with interested members of the business community, job seekers and the public for one in a series of open house info sessions, to explain the plans going forward.

It was a chance for Rio Tinto’s project director Gary Hodgkinson to introduce himself and he was careful about making any assurances to the public.

The open house in P.A. in February attracted around 150 people, most of whom were either seeking job opportunities or offering various services. (Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff)

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“Because hard numbers stick in people’s minds and they may well be disappointed if those numbers don’t happen,” he told paNOW.

New deep trench-cutting technology, which is literally ground-breaking, had yet to be properly tested on this scale to try to recover sections of diamond-bearing kimberlite hundreds of meters below the surface. Rio Tinto was keen to stress lots of work remained to determine the economic viability of a mining operation.

Sparkling analysis

In March, the owners of the site, Star Diamond, announced an independent analysis showed an unusually high proportion of high-value diamonds were locked in the earth’s grip.

The Saskatchewan Research Council’s tests of a sample of 7,000 stones confirmed findings from an earlier study of 260 stones from 2010, that there were some very big jewels deep underground. Two of the biggest were valued at US $134,000 and $44,240 respectively, according to George Read, the company’s vice president of exploration and development.

Star – Orion South Diamond Project High Value Stones (Star Diamond website)

“The net result of [the tests] is that we would be optimistic to say that in future production we would hope to see [high-value] diamonds over 100 carats and we would like to think that a number of those would have these exceptional top colours,” he told paNOW.

Read said Rio Tinto would be using the latest high-tech drilling, cutting and processing procedures to minimize the potential breakage of large stones that may occur in their bulk sampling process that had yet to get underway.

Trench-cutting starts

In June, Rio Tinto completed the first of their 10 bulk sampling holes using the trench-cutting technology and reaching a depth of over 228 metres. Over 700 large bags of kimberlite were extracted from the initial hole and were stored for analysis. Samples from the rest of the large drill holes in the coming months would be stored the same way. The mining giant’s project manager maintained his cautious outlook.

Rio Tinto’s huge trench cutter sampling rig in position for the first super-deep cut at the Star Diamond property at Fort à la Corne. It cut out a trench 228 metres deep. (submitted photo/Rio Tinto)

“What we still need to do is ascertain the quality of the sample,” Gary Hodgkinson told paNOW. “We need to be very careful that we don’t crush the kimberlite material so much that we have the possibility of breaking diamonds.”

He called the first big drill hole a small but important step for the team, and cautioned it remained to be seen what condition the diamonds locked within the kimberlite were in.

Bags and bags of diamonds? Not quite. It is sample material and each bag could contain around 0.2 carats of precious stones.(Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

The people searching for treasure

Results would not be known for many months and the process of drilling the next nine trench-cutting holes continued through the summer and into the fall. In September paNOW was given a unique opportunity to explore the site and talk to many of the people behind the quest to unearth Fort à la Corne’s treasure.

George Reed with Star Diamond Corporation, left and Rio Tinto’s Gary Hodgkinson in front of the star attraction at Project Falcon, the Trench Cutter Sampling Rig. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

Rio Tinto goes all in

As the year neared its conclusion Rio Tinto gave its biggest indication yet of its financial commitment to the project. In November, the company gave notice to Star Diamond that it intended to exercise all four options under the Option to Joint Venture Agreement entered into in 2017. That ultimately meant Rio Tinto would become a 60 per cent stakeholder in the project over time as further exploration phases were completed.

Star Diamond’s George Reed said the first option or phase of the exploration project – the drilling of 10 sample holes – had been completed, and the sample processing plant would be up and running “very soon” with the aim of assessing the diamonds over the winter months.

Rio Tinto told paNOW the announcement did not mean the project was advancing to development, and “completing the exploration work takes significant time and effort, and we don’t know yet if this work will result in the development of a mine.”

First Nations concern

The exploration efforts of 2019 progressed against the backdrop of continued serious objections from James Smith Cree Nation. Their land lies adjacent to the project and there are concerns about the environment, damage to culture and spiritual land, and the need for financial compensation.

(submitted photo/Star Diamond Corp.)

“We have a sacred duty to protect the Treaties and lands our ancestors bequeathed us and we don’t have that yet,” Chief Wally Burns said. “We’re not opposed to development, but we will not be satisfied with beads and trinkets.”

The provincial government said the potential impacts of the project “can be addressed by proponent commitments through terms and conditions of the ministerial approval, and in permits and licences required for the project.”

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow