'New diamond prospective area in Greenland

A test run with part of the modular plant: a high capacity, vibrating grease table, developed for Avannaa by Gondwanaland Diamonds, South Africa. Courtesy: Avannaa Resources

Avannaa Resources Ltd, operating in Greenland via its fully owned subsidiary Avannaa Exploration Ltd, reports 18 February 2008 (Nicholas Rose, CEO) that it has diamond- tested a dyke in the vicinity of Ataa Sund, central West Greenland, within its licence area no. 2007/52. The 39 kg sample was analysed for its diamond content by SGS Lakefield, Canada, and yielded 102 diamonds with a total weight of 0.013 carat. One stone can be characterized as a macrodiamond with dimensions of 0.83 x 0.66 x 0.53mm, translucent and white with graphite inclusions, while the remaining 101 stones all are microdiamonds. In terms of colour, 95 stones are white and 7 are off white, and in terms of clarity, 62 stones are transparent and 60 translucent. The majority of the stones (76) are crystal fragments suggesting a high probability that larger stones are present. The discovery significantly extends the regional extent of diamond-prospective bedrock in West Greenland, which has primarily focused on the Maniitsoq - Sarfartoq belt 300 kilometers to the south of the Ataa region.

Avannaa will follow up on this discovery in 2008 by bulk sampling the diamondiferous dyke itself and by detailed evaluation of an alluvial diamond target also within its 2007/52 licence area including sampling of up to 500 tonnes of channel facies sands and gravels of the Atane Formation on eastern Disko. The company will also be prospecting for other dykes and plugs of kimberlitic affinity in the Ataa Sund region, where Avannaa has applied for an exploration licence via a newly formed subsidiary Avannaa Diamonds Ltd. The company's other activities in 2008 are targeted at gold and nickel in several existing and new licences in West Greenland. To process sands and gravels on its alluvial diamond project, Avannaa has acquired a light modular plant specially designed for the Atane Formation sediments by Gekko Systems, Australia. This includes a 2 ton/hr in-line pressure jig (IPJ600) equipped with a 5 ton/hr feed trommel and concentrate sorting screens. A high capacity vibrating grease table, with a pre-cleaning scrubber, designed for Avannaa by Gondwanaland Diamonds (South Africa), will make a final processing of the concentrate before delivery to SGS Lakefield for diamond identification and characterisation. The combined processing plant will allow recovery of 0.6 to 12 mm diameter diamonds.'
Copied from MINEX No. 32 - February 2008

Gondwanaland Diamonds