The Pioneers of Canadian Diamond Exploration

Charles Fipke and Christopher Jennings have become household names, at least within the mining community. They were largely responsible for the kimberlite finds in the Northwest Territories that promise to sustain the northern economy for years to come.

But long before Fipke began his successful hunt for the country's first diamond mine, others were searching for the precious stones. Many were trying to find the source of diamonds found in glacial drift in the Great Lakes region as early as 1863. Although several found pipes and even diamonds, none were able to outline an economic deposit.

Natural Diamond Nestled in Kimberlite

These early efforts were highly secretive and consequently, the record is patchy at best. But The Northern Miner was able to piece together a partial list of pioneers with the help of insiders with keen memories, including: Patricia Sheehan of Konsult International, who has been compiling reference literature on diamond exploration for the past 38 years; and Ed Freeman, who authored several papers on diamonds for the Ontario Geological Survey in the 1970's and 1980's. The list includes:

Joe Brummer Working as a diamond exploration consultant in the 1970's, Brummer found kimberlites and some diamonds in the Kirkland Lake area of Ontario. He authored a number of papers on the subject of diamond exploration in Canada.

Don MacFadyen MacFadyen worked as a consultant alongside Brummer, and was one of the first Canadians to recognize the suitability of using existing aeromagnetic surveys to pinpoint kimberlite pipes.

Bert Lee As a geologist for the Geological Survey of Canada, Lee found diamond indicator minerals while analyzing material from the Munro esker in northern Ontario. This led to the discovery of kimberlite dykes at the Upper Canada mine in Gauthier Twp. the 1970's

Jack Satterly Satterly, a geologist for the Ontario Department of Mines, was the first to identify kimberlite in Canada. In 1948, he described kimberlite dykes in holes drilled for gold and base metals in Michaud Twp, Ont.

Tom Skimming Skimming is credited with the discovery of kimberlite indicator minerals (pyrope garnets) in the Moose River drainage basin of the James Bay Lowland.

Mousseau Tremblay Tremblay found chrome diopside and pyrope garnet while sampling the Abitibi and Little Abitibi rivers in the early sixties. He concluded in his report to Hard Metals (Canada) Ltd. that "the possibility of the existence of diamonds in Canada can be reasonably entertained, despite the fact that none have ever been found in the past."

George (Gus) Wahl "Within 10 years there will be a diamond mine in Canada", predicted Wahl in 1982 (Toronto Star, Feb. 28, 1982). Wahl worked for several companies looking for diamonds, including Diapros, the precursor to Monopros, Selco Mining and Diadem Resources. As an expert on "up-ice" sources of indicator minerals, he guided Selco's exploration programs across Canada.

Bill Wolfe Wolfe played a part in identifying several kimberlites and other diatremes in the Canadian Arctic (Somerset Island), Colorado and British Columbia for Cominco. "We found a lot of microdiamonds but never a macro," says Wolfe. "It got outrageously expensive."

But long before Fipke began his successful hunt for the country's first diamond mine, others were searching for the precious stones. Many were trying to find the source of diamonds found in glacial drift in the Great Lakes region as early as 1863. Although several found pipes and even diamonds, none were able to outline an economic deposit.

These early efforts were highly secretive and consequently, the record is patchy at best. But The Northern Miner was able to piece together a partial list of pioneers with the help of insiders with keen memories, including: Patricia Sheehan of Konsult International, who has been compiling reference literature on diamond exploration for the past 38 years; and Ed Freeman, who authored several papers on diamonds for the Ontario Geological Survey in the 1970's and 1980's. The list includes:

Joe Brummer Working as a diamond exploration consultant in the 1970's, Brummer found kimberlites and some diamonds in the Kirkland Lake area of Ontario. He authored a number of papers on the subject of diamond exploration in Canada.

Don MacFadyen MacFadyen worked as a consultant alongside Brummer, and was one of the first Canadians to recognize the suitability of using existing aeromagnetic surveys to pinpoint kimberlite pipes.

Bert Lee As a geologist for the Geological Survey of Canada, Lee found diamond indicator minerals while analyzing material from the Munro esker in northern Ontario. This led to the discovery of kimberlite dykes at the Upper Canada mine in Gauthier Twp. the 1970's

Jack Satterly Satterly, a geologist for the Ontario Department of Mines, was the first to identify kimberlite in Canada. In 1948, he described kimberlite dykes in holes drilled for gold and base metals in Michaud Twp, Ont.

Tom Skimming Skimming is credited with the discovery of kimberlite indicator minerals (pyrope garnets) in the Moose River drainage basin of the James Bay Lowland.

Mousseau Tremblay Tremblay found chrome diopside and pyrope garnet while sampling the Abitibi and Little Abitibi rivers in the early sixties. He concluded in his report to Hard Metals (Canada) Ltd. that "the possibility of the existence of diamonds in Canada can be reasonably entertained, despite the fact that none have ever been found in the past."

George (Gus) Wahl "Within 10 years there will be a diamond mine in Canada", predicted Wahl in 1982 (Toronto Star, Feb. 28, 1982). Wahl worked for several companies looking for diamonds, including Diapros, the precursor to Monopros, Selco Mining and Diadem Resources. As an expert on "up-ice" sources of indicator minerals, he guided Selco's exploration programs across Canada.

Bill Wolfe Wolfe played a part in identifying several kimberlites and other diatremes in the Canadian Arctic (Somerset Island), Colorado and British Columbia for Cominco. "We found a lot of microdiamonds but never a macro," says Wolfe. "It got outrageously expensive."

But long before Fipke began his successful hunt for the country's first diamond mine, others were searching for the precious stones. Many were trying to find the source of diamonds found in glacial drift in the Great Lakes region as early as 1863. Although several found pipes and even diamonds, none were able to outline an economic deposit.

These early efforts were highly secretive and consequently, the record is patchy at best. But The Northern Miner was able to piece together a partial list of pioneers with the help of insiders with keen memories, including: Patricia Sheehan of Konsult International, who has been compiling reference literature on diamond exploration for the past 38 years; and Ed Freeman, who authored several papers on diamonds for the Ontario Geological Survey in the 1970's and 1980's. The list includes:

Joe Brummer Working as a diamond exploration consultant in the 1970's, Brummer found kimberlites and some diamonds in the Kirkland Lake area of Ontario. He authored a number of papers on the subject of diamond exploration in Canada.

Don MacFadyen MacFadyen worked as a consultant alongside Brummer, and was one of the first Canadians to recognize the suitability of using existing aeromagnetic surveys to pinpoint kimberlite pipes.

Bert Lee As a geologist for the Geological Survey of Canada, Lee found diamond indicator minerals while analyzing material from the Munro esker in northern Ontario. This led to the discovery of kimberlite dykes at the Upper Canada mine in Gauthier Twp. the 1970's

Jack Satterly Satterly, a geologist for the Ontario Department of Mines, was the first to identify kimberlite in Canada. In 1948, he described kimberlite dykes in holes drilled for gold and base metals in Michaud Twp, Ont.

Tom Skimming Skimming is credited with the discovery of kimberlite indicator minerals (pyrope garnets) in the Moose River drainage basin of the James Bay Lowland.

Mousseau Tremblay Tremblay found chrome diopside and pyrope garnet while sampling the Abitibi and Little Abitibi rivers in the early sixties. He concluded in his report to Hard Metals (Canada) Ltd. that "the possibility of the existence of diamonds in Canada can be reasonably entertained, despite the fact that none have ever been found in the past."

George (Gus) Wahl "Within 10 years there will be a diamond mine in Canada", predicted Wahl in 1982 (Toronto Star, Feb. 28, 1982). Wahl worked for several companies looking for diamonds, including Diapros, the precursor to Monopros, Selco Mining and Diadem Resources. As an expert on "up-ice" sources of indicator minerals, he guided Selco's exploration programs across Canada.

Bill Wolfe Wolfe played a part in identifying several kimberlites and other diatremes in the Canadian Arctic (Somerset Island), Colorado and British Columbia for Cominco. "We found a lot of microdiamonds but never a macro," says Wolfe. "It got outrageously expensive."

Quebec's Northern Frontier Awakens

Years of mapping, sampling and drilling may finally be paying off for juniors determined to make an economic discovery in the underexplored frontier of Quebec's north.

Two gold projects and an impressive diamond discovery have attracted industry attention to the multi-mineral potential of the region, although the market remains unresponsive to companies holding ground there.

The gold plays, including Eastmain Resources' (ER-T) Clearwater and Virginia Gold Mines' (VIA-M) La Grande Sud are located along the Eastmain and La Grande belts, two underexplored greenstone belts east of Hudson Bay. Recent discoveries have boosted the potential mineability of both properties, which contain established resources that have taken years to delineate.

Twin Gold's (TWG-T) diamond discovery in the Torngat mountains on the east side of Ungava Bay is even more intriguing because the project is brand new and has returned results that rival some of the early exploration work in the diamond fields of the Northwest Territories.

These types of projects are an endorsement of Quebec's support for companies willing to launch exploration programs outside known mining camps. In addition to one of the most generous flow-through share programs in the country, the government offers grants of up to $100,000 per property for exploration in remote areas.

"This year we are entitled to receive about $300,000 in grants," says Andre Gaumond, president of Virginia. "You can do much more work for the same dollar."

At Clearwater, Eastmain and Soquem recently uncovered several new high-grade veins by stripping surface outcrops. Results from channel samples included a 17.6-metre intersection grading an uncut 16.2 grams per tonne across the Tourmaline Zone and high-grade, visible gold in veins O, P and Q. These discoveries could add significantly to the known resource of just over half a million tonnes grading 11.3 grams gold per tonne contained in multiple, parallel quartz-tourmaline veins within the Eau Claire deposit.

"Westmin started in this belt in 1983 and work has been almost continuous ever since," says Don Robinson, president of Eastmain. "These results show that you can make a discovery on a project at anytime, be it year one or year twenty."

The project is a 50-50% joint venture between Soquem and Eastmain. The partners are planning to complete detailed follow-up drilling at 25-metre centres in order to evaluate the tonnage and average grade of the deposit.

At Virginia's La Grande Sud, till sampling returned a record number of gold grains and drilling intersected a mineralized zone averaging 0.5% zinc over 23 metres. The intersection lies south and east of zone 32, which contains a resource of 6.5 million tonnes grading 1.5 grams gold per tonne and 0.2% copper.

Cambior is earning a 50% interest in the project from Virginia by spending $7 million over six years. In January, the gold producer will launch a 300,000-metre drilling program to determine if the felsic volcanic- intrusive contact that runs through the property is as promising as similar geology in the Bousquet-Doyon mining camp to the south where Cambior operates the Doyon gold mine.

Compared with old timers like Virginia and Eastmain, Twin Gold is a newcomer to Quebec's remote north. The junior, better known for its advanced gold project in Idaho, became involved in diamond exploration in the Torngat Mountains of northeastern Quebec after identifying a cluster of kimberlite dykes on computer-enhanced aerial photographs.

An exploration team lead by James Bourne, a geology professor at the University du Quebec in Montreal, made the diamond discovery after staking ground in the area for Twin Gold in late June. Grab samples from one of the dykes yielded a total of 42 diamonds, including nine macrodiamonds. One of the macrodiamonds is an impressive 1.85 millimetres in diameter. The 1.5-km long dyke contains G10 garnets and is part of a cluster of 12 dykes.

The company will finance ongoing exploration through a recently announced private placement of special warrants, priced at 45 cents a warrant, to raise $3-5 million. The warrants will be issued in two classes. The first class allows the holder to acquire one flow-through share and half a warrant of Twin Gold. The other class entitles the holder to acquire one common share plus half a warrant.

There are other pockets of activity throughout the vast area between James Bay in the west and Ungava Bay in the east. La Grande Sud is the most advanced of Virginia's projects, but the company has several other gold and base metal prospects that warrant follow-up.

Among them is the Gayot property south of Ungava Bay, where Virginia recently increased its land position to 325 square kilometres after discovering four nickel-platinum-palladium showings. The property lies along a newly discovered ultramafic belt that is said to show geological similarities to the Raglan and Kambalda nickel belts. Zones of disseminated sulphides have returned 1.0-2.7% nickel and up to 0.4% copper, 0.1% cobalt and 1.18 grams per ton platinum group metals.

Virginia has a 100% interest in Gayot and will begin drilling there this winter after completing a ground geophysical survey to generate targets.

Winter drilling is also scheduled to get underway on Virginia's Duquet project, where Cambiex Exploration (CBX-T) and Soquem are earning a 33.3% interest. Duquet is a gold-copper-silver prospect containing massive sulphide lenses that have never been drill-tested.

Virginia will move the drills to the Chute-des-Passes and Payne Bay nickel prospects after the winter campaign is complete.

Also active in the region is Sirios Resources (SOI-M). The junior is taking till samples as part of a diamond exploration program in the La Grande River area and recently closed a deal with Soquem for exploration on the nearby Aquilon property. Souquem will spend $470,000 over three years to earn a 50% interest in the gold project.

Sirios and Soquem also plan to follow-up encouraging gold results from a till sampling program at their joint venture Tilly Centre property in the La Grande region.

And near Radisson, prospecting by Dianor Resources (DOR-M) has turned up six surface gold showings. Results from grab samples ranged from 2.83 to 66.99 grams gold per tonne.