Nanuq North Project, Nunavut
- 33,100 hectares located in Nunavut, 300 km north-northeast of Rankin Inlet, adjacent to the Nanuq project.
- One diamondiferous kimberlite discovered in 2008.
- Peregrine owns 42.7% of 13,900 hectares and 50% of 19,200 hectares. Bluestone Resources is the operator.
Peregrine Diamonds has entered a letter agreement with Bluestone Resources Inc. ("Bluestone") (formerly Indicator Minerals Inc.) and Hunter Exploration Group ("Hunter") on the 33,100 hectare Nanuq North project immediately north of the Nanuq project. (Click here to view the location map) Under the terms of the agreement, Bluestone is the operator, with Peregrine and Bluestone sharing the costs of exploration on a 50/50 basis. Hunter will retain a 20 percent interest carried through completion of a scoping study and gross overriding royalty of 2% on any revenues generated from 16 claims covering 13,864 hectares. Peregrine and Bluestone each have undivided 50 percent interests in the remaining 19,236 hectares of claims.
The 2008 exploration program resulted in the discovery of a new kimberlite, NQN-001. Samples were sent to SRC for microdiamond analysis via caustic fusion and the kimberlite was found to be significantly diamondiferous. Diamond Results were reported in the February 10, 2009 press release. A 125.7 kilogram sample collected from the top 64.0 metres of the drill hole yielded 0.89 diamonds per kilogram while a 27.0 kilogram sample collected over a 13.7 metre interval at the bottom of the hole yielded 3.48 diamonds per kilogram. The results are summarized in the table below.
NQN-001 CAUSTIC FUSION DIAMOND RESULTS
|
Down-hole
Sample Interval (m)
|
Interval Length (m)
|
Sample Weight (kg)
|
Square Mesh Screen Size (in mm)
|
Number of Diamonds
|
Number of Diamonds per kg
|
|
0.075
|
0.106
|
0.150
|
0.212
|
0.300
|
0.425
|
0.600
|
|
8.8 - 72.8
|
64.0
|
125.75
|
39
|
37
|
18
|
15
|
1
|
0
|
2
|
112
|
0.89
|
|
72.8 - 86.5
|
13.7
|
27.00
|
38
|
33
|
11
|
7
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
94
|
3.48
|
|
Total
|
77.7
|
152.75
|
77
|
70
|
29
|
22
|
4
|
1
|
3
|
206
|
1.35
|
Bluestone and Peregrine completed a $2 million 2010 exploration program at Nanuq North. The primary goal was the evaluation of the NQN-001 kimberlite. Six holes totalling approximately 762 metres were drilled into this kimberlite to provide an estimate of its size (currently estimated at 1.8 hectares), the number of phases (types) of kimberlite present, and to obtain an initial understanding of the distribution of diamonds in the different kimberlite phases.
During the 2010 exploration program more than four tonnes of kimberlite was recovered from the NQN-001 kimberlite. The sample is composed of a medium-grained, strongly magnetic kimberlite and a coarse-grained, moderately magnetic kimberlite. Both phases are olivine-rich and contain peridotitic pyrope and eclogitic garnets. Diamond results were reported on November 15, 2010. Bluestone was the Operator at Nanuq North and used equipment, infrastructure and personnel from Peregrine's Nanuq project.
The initial NQN-001 diamond results confirm that all four kimberlites in the Nanuq/Nanuq North diamond district are significantly diamondiferous. Current exploration data suggests that other diamondiferous kimberlites remain to be discovered.
The discovery at Nanuq North, situated just north of Peregrine's wholly-owned Nanuq Project, expands the size of the known kimberlite field in the Nanuq area. The new find is located 17 kilometres to the north of Peregrines 2007 kimberlite discoveries, the Kayuu, Naturalik and Tudlik kimberlites.
