Properties Bucke Pipe Diamond Project
Bucke Pipe Diamond Project
Pro Minerals 100% owned Bucke Pipe Diamond Project is located in Bucke Township which is about 4 km southwest of New Liskeard, Ontario and about 90 km south southwest of Kirkland Lake. The Trans Canada Highway (Highway 11) crosses the
southeast corner of the property. An all-weather gravel road from Highway 11 crosses the central portion of the kimberlite pipe. This area is well known for its mining history and offers an advanced mining/exploration infrastructure.
The Lake Timiskaming Structural Zone (LTSZ) is an important control for the intrusion of kimberlite pipes in the New Liskeard area. This long-lived, deep-seated northwest-striking structure appears to host all of the Timiskaming kimberlite cluster, as well as kimberlite intrusions at Attawapiskat, Kyle Lake and Kirkland Lake. The zone is at least 80 km wide.
The initial Bucke Pipe is a kimberlitic body known to host both macro and micro gem quality diamonds. Between 1989 and 1996, some sampling was carried out by two separate junior explorers (KWG Inc./ Spider Inc.), and subsequently a 25 ton bulk sample was taken from the Eastern lobe of the Bucke Pipe. RTS Samplers Inc. was employed to take the sample and Lakefield Research was hired to treat the sample. The Lakefield work recovered five diamonds weighing 0.08 carets from the jig concentrate of the -2 mm, +1 mm size fraction. Four of these stones were greater than 1.0 mm along one crystal axis.
Petrographic and micro-probe analyses of samples from the Bucke Pipe, collected at the time of the work by KWG/Spider, were carried by V.K. Garanin and G.P. Kudrjavtseva of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences. An undated copy of the report, edited by Mr. G. Sinclair of Min Scan Consultants Ltd. is available in the Assessment Files. The report concluded that the kimberlite of the Bucke Pipe originated at great depth and that conditions conducive to diamond preservation prevailed during its intrusion.
Pro Minerals has interpreted the presence of three kimberlite pipes within a 700 m x 700 m area whereby originally, the Bucke Pipe was considered to be a single intrusive structure. The kimberlite pipe on the Bucke property remains poorly defined at present. While the pipe was originally considered a single entity, drilling appeared to indicate that the pipe is significantly more lobate or consisting of three separate pipes; the Central, West, and South. The diamond drill and reverse circulation testing procedures to date have been concentrated in the northeastern and northwestern lobes, at least where known. During the 2000 diamond drilling campaign, Novawest Resources Inc. reported that nine separate kimberlite facies had been identified in drilling. The bulk of the previous testing, for which there are records available, show that a large portion of the kimberlite is located in the Central Lobe, with a lesser amount in the West Lobe. The South Lobe is untested at present. In the year 2000 Novawest Resources Inc. drilled 11 holes (2,288.9 m) to test the Bucke Kimberlite pipe. During the 2000 drilling campaign a total of 1,424 m of kimberlite was intersected. The diamond-bearing pipe/lobe in the northeast is about 150 m in diameter. Once the drilling was completed the core was shipped to a secure compound in Sudbury where it resides today. A mere 21 samples of the core were sent for assay, and a single diamond was recovered from Sample No. NW13, taken from Diamond Drill Hole BK00-9 from 111.0 m to 119.0 m. The remainder of the 4500 feet of core which was drilled in 2000 has not been tested. The area in and adjacent to Bucke Township has received a significant amount of exploration as of recent years. Stornoway Diamond Corp. (previously Contact Diamond), for example, continues to work in the area and has identified and partially tested four kimberlitic pipes. The Bucke Pipe property is worthy of further exploration and the character of the property is sufficient to justify an aggressive work program in the future.
