Chidliak Project
- 748,000 hectares located on South Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada, 120 km northeast of Iqaluit.
- Discovered in 2008, 61 kimberlites have been located so far.
- 7 kimberlites (CH-1, CH-6, CH-7, CH-28, CH-31, CH-44 and CH-45) are considered potentially economic.
- The project is now at the bulk sampling stage.
- Peregrine has signed an option agreement with De Beers Canada Inc. whereby De Beers has the exclusive right to enter into an earn-in joint venture agreement with a 50.1% De Beers / 49.9% Peregrine ownership basis.
Peregrine is exploring for diamonds on its 100% owned 748,000 hectare Chidliak Project ("Chidliak" or "the Project") on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. Chidliak is located 120 km northeast of Iqaluit, capital of Nunavut. A map outlining Chidliak is available at (Click here to view the location map).
De Beers Option to Joint Venture Chidliak
Peregrine has completed an option agreement with De Beers Canada Inc. whereby De Beers has the exclusive right, until December 31, 2013, to enter into an earn-in joint venture agreement with Peregrine on a 50.1% De Beers / 49.9% Peregrine ownership basis for the Chidliak project. Under the joint venture, De Beers will be the project operator and will undertake mineral exploration and development work potentially leading to the completion of a NI 43-101 compliant, bankable feasibility study and, if warranted, the construction of a diamond mine. Details of this agreement are available in Peregrine's September 5, 2012 press release.
Peregrine Increases Ownership in Chidliak to 100%
On February 2, 2012, Peregrine announced that it has completed the purchase of BHP Billiton's 51% participating interest in Chidliak. This gives Peregrine 100% ownership in the Project, providing its shareholders with all the benefits of the potentially economic diamond discoveries made to date and continued exposure to the Project's exceptional exploration upside. Under the terms of the Agreement Peregrine will pay a total of CAD$9,000,000 over a period of three years, and grant BHP Billiton a two percent royalty on any future mineral production from Chidliak. Peregrine has the right to match any offer by a third party to purchase any of the royalty, should BHP Billiton decide to sell. In addition, as part of the transaction, Peregrine has acquired BHP Billiton's Canadian diamond exploration database that was compiled over a ten year period at considerable expense and effort. The database contains data from 38,000 kimberlite indicator mineral samples covering an area of approximately three million square kilometres. BHP Billiton has also agreed to extinguish Peregrine's royalty obligations and BHP Billiton's diamond marketing rights on certain Canadian mineral properties in which Peregrine has an interest.
2013 Exploration Program
2013 work at Chidliak includes:
- Bulk sample by trenching at CH-6
- Conceptual mining study
- Target generation
- Ground geophysics
- Further kimberlite pipe characterization studies
Additional details on the 2013 program are available in the January 28, 2013 and April 23, 2013 press releases.
2012 Exploration Program
During the 2012 exploration program, the Company conducted core drilling on CH-1, 7 and 44, overburden profile drilling on CH-6, 7 and 31, ground geophysical surveys and prospecting. Two new kimberlites were discovered, CH-60 and 61. Details of the activities can be viewed in the April 11, 2012 and August 14, 2012 press releases.
Exploration History
Discoveries of high concentrations of kimberlitic indicator minerals ("KIMs") in 2005 and 2006 in the area that was to become the Chidliak project encouraged Peregrine to acquire its first Chidliak prospecting permits in early 2007. Three distinct and well-defined KIM anomalies situated 20 to 30 km apart were identified. Between 2005 and 2007 1,168 till samples were collected at Chidliak, of which 320 samples, or 27 percent, contained KIMs. The full suite of KIMs have been recovered including p-type pyrope garnet, eclogitic garnet, chrome diopside, picroilmenite, chromite and forsteritic olivine. A significant number of the KIMs were over 1.00 mm in size, as size that is not very common and is often a strong indication of a proximal kimberlite source. Ten percent of the 2,284 p-type pyrope garnets that were analyzed by electron microprobe through 2007 were classified as high-chrome, low-calcium G10 garnets. G10 garnets are commonly associated with diamond mines throughout the world. Based on the favorable indicator mineral results, a heliborne magnetic/electromagnetic flown at 100 metre line spacing, was completed in August 2008.
Between July and September 2008, the CH-1, CH-2 and CH-3 kimberlites were discovered. All three kimberlites are diamondiferous, with the size distribution of CH-1 being especially encouraging. At the end of the 2008 exploration season a 2.28 tonne mini-bulk sample was collected by hand from the surface of CH-1. The sample was collected from two kimberlite units 1A and 1B. A total of 168 diamonds greater than the 0.425 mm sieve size were recovered, including 34 commercial-sized diamonds larger than the 0.85 mm sieve size as well as a 2.01 carat, gem quality, clear colourless octahedron.
Peregrine was operator of a $9.2 million 2009 exploration program at Chidliak. The program was fully funded by BHP Billiton. The 2009 program included core drilling of selected targets, the collection of a 50-tonne mini-bulk sample from the CH-1 kimberlite, collection of 1,273 KIM samples, ground magnetic and electromagnetic geophysical surveys and initiation of an environmental baseline study. A second camp, called Sunrise, was constructed in the Spring to facilitate the increase in exploration activity in 2009. The original camp is referred to as Discovery.
Between July 2009 and September 2009, thirteen new kimberlites were discovered at Chidliak (CH-4 - CH-16). The diamond results from the CH-6 kimberlite were especially encouraging, as a 569.1 kilogram sample yielded 4.58 carats of commercial-size (+0.85 mm) stones. Diamond results for the 13 kimberlites discovered in 2009 are available in the diamond results section of this site.
In August 2009, a 49.6 tonne mini-bulk sample was collected from the outcrop exposure at the CH-1 kimberlite. The sample returned 20.26 carats of commercial-sized diamonds larger than 0.85 mm for a diamond content of 0.41 carats per tonne ("cpt"). A total of 15 diamonds larger than 0.30 carats in size were recovered, the largest diamond was a 1.35 carat brown octahedron and the second largest stone was a 0.71 carat white/colourless aggregate of octahedrons. A summary of results from the mini-bulk sample are available in the diamond results section of this site.
During the $15.3 million 2010 program Peregrine discovered 34 new kimberlites, bringing the total at the end of 2010 to 50.
Seven of the kimberlites discovered to date are likely to be greater than one hectare in size based on drill data and ground geophysical signatures. Highlighting the probability for large kimberlites and associated tonnage at Chidliak is CH-31, where interpretation of the geophysical and drill data and the distribution of kimberlite float indicate that this kimberlite is four hectares in size. A 410 metre kimberlite intersection was drilled at CH-31 in a core hole inclined at a 45 degree angle, which equates to an estimated horizontal width of at least 290 metres.
In an 840 kg sample of the CH-31 kimberlite a total of 233 diamonds larger than the 0.106 mm sieve size were recovered, including five diamonds larger than the 0.850 mm sieve size which weigh a total of 1.39 carats. More information on this sample is available in the October 29, 2010 press release.
Results from the 47.2 tonne mini-bulk sample of CH-7, reported on November 22, 2010, returned 49.07 carats of commercial-sized diamonds, for a diamond grade of 1.04 cpt. The mini-bulk sample yielded 502 commercial-sized diamonds, 15 of which weigh 0.5 carat or more, including 6.53, 2.18, 1.24 and 0.98 carat stones.
Results from the 14.1 tonne mini-bulk sample of CH-6 were reported on December 6, 2010. The diamond grade of the four sub-samples which comprised the 14.1 tonnes were 6.8, 3.5, 2.8 and 2.0 cpt. The largest diamonds were 1.29, 1.02, 0.99 and 0.99 carats. According to Howard Coopersmith, Peregrine's external Qualified Person for the sampling and diamond recovery process, the diamonds are considered to be an "exceptional white/colourless population with high clarity and superior shapes."
During 2010, 7,672 m of core drilling and 1,507 m of RC drilling were completed. A total of 404 KIM samples were collected and 112 geophysical anomalies were evaluated by prospecting. More details of the 2010 program can be found in the September 16, 2010 press release.
Chidliak Metals Potential
In addition to its diamond potential, the Chidliak property hosts mineral anomalies indicative of platinum/palladium, lead-zinc and copper deposits. The primary goal in regards to these metals anomalies is to discover bedrock sources for the metals indicator minerals in one or more of the anomaly areas. Highly anomalous concentrations of the platinum-bearing mineral sperrylite, the zinc-bearing mineral gahnite and the copper-bearing mineral chalcopyrite were recovered from till samples collected in 2006 and 2007. Of the 970 samples collected on Chidliak, 220 contained at least one grain of either sperrylite, gahnite or chalcopyrite. In addition, approximately 350 of the 970 samples contained at least one gold grain with two samples containing over 100 gold grains. The three distinct anomaly areas on Chidliak are referred to as the Sperrylite Anomaly, the Gahnite Anomaly and the Chalcopyrite Anomaly.
Sperrylite is a platinum-bearing mineral that is often associated with rocks that contain platinum, palladium and nickel. The Sperrylite Anomaly occurs over a broad area measuring approximately 10 km by 10 km. Of the 44 samples collected in this area, 17 contiguous samples contained anomalous sperrylite counts. Several samples outside the Sperrylite Anomaly area also contain sperrylite including one sample with 60 grains and ten percent by weight goethite. Goethite is present in gossans which consist of iron-bearing weathered material that can overlie sulphide-associated deposits.
Gahnite is a primary indicator mineral for metamorphosed massive sulphide lead-zinc-silver-copper deposits. The Gahnite Anomaly is approximately 2 km by 2.5 km in size and nine of ten samples collected within the area contained highly anomalous concentrations of gahnite ranging from 47 to approximately 1,600 grains.
Chalcopyrite is a very common mineral in copper deposits but usually only a small proportion of the grains survive in the weathered glacial till. The Chalcopyrite Anomaly measures approximately 15 km by 20 km in size and eight of the 15 samples collected within the area contained chalcopyrite grains. One sample contained 320 grains which is considered highly anomalous.
In the summer season of 2008 Peregrine established an exploration camp at Chidliak to conduct helicopter-borne magnetic/electromagnetic surveys over the areas anomalous in KIMs and the Sperrylite Anomaly. Concurrently, the metals anomalies were the subject of a program of prospecting, geologic mapping and geochemical sampling.
