North of 60 Mining News - The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North

Kennady Diamonds Inc. Feb. 5 announced that crews have mobilized for a roughly 10,500-meter winter drill program at its Kennady North diamond project in Northwest Territories.

Around 60 percent of this program will investigate high priority exploration targets along the Kelvin-Faraday corridor, a trend of diamond-bearing kimberlites that extend from the northern border of De Beers Canada and Mountain Province Diamond's Gahcho Kué property some 3,000 meters onto the Kennady North property.

"We are looking forward to resume our exploration and evaluation work on the Kennady North project, said Kennady President and CEO Rory Moore. "What is particularly exciting is that the majority of the budgeted drilling is directed at high priority exploration targets that we have waited to test for a number of years as evaluation work on the Kelvin and Faraday kimberlites took priority."

The Kennady North property also wraps around the west and southwest sides of Gahcho Kué. If time permits, Kennady plans to test new targets, immediately southwest of the Gahcho Kué Mine.

The balance of the winter program will focus on delineation and geotechnical drilling on the Faraday kimberlites.

"The delineation drilling program is designed to prepare for the next phase of bulk sampling that will extend the Faraday 2 resource along strike to the northwest, as well as upgrade the northeast limb of the Faraday 1-3 complex from a 'target for further exploration' to an inferred resource," Moore added.

This program will provide information that will help advance the Faraday kimberlites towards the pre-feasibility level of confidence.

Work will also resume on an environmental baseline study that was initiated in 2017, as well as a new program to evaluate the geochemical behavior of the kimberlites and associated country rock that might be expected in a mining scenario.

Field crews have begun construction of ice infrastructure that includes an ice airstrip, a spur road linking Kelvin Camp to the Gahcho Kuè spur road, and an ice road to the Faraday kimberlites. Drilling is expected to begin by Feb. 12.

The program is planned to run at least until mid-May, longer should ice conditions allow for safe drilling.

Kennady has closed a C$2.5 million initial tranche of a private placement financing connected with a Jan. 29 deal under which Mountain Province Diamonds has agreed to buy-out Kennady in an all-shares acquisition worth roughly C$176 million.

The C$2.5 million raised during this initial tranche will be used to fund the winter program at Kennady North and for general corporate purposes.

–SHANE LASLEY