15 January 2020
North Arrow Minerals Inc. (TSXV-NAR) is pleased to report the approval of a $3.5M 2020 exploration program and microdiamond results from the Anchor kimberlite on the LDG Joint Venture Diamond Project, a prospective 147,200 hectare joint venture property located just south of the Diavik Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories.
As reported on July 8, 2019, the Anchor kimberlite was discovered as part of the 2019 summer exploration drilling program and represents the first new kimberlite discovered by the LDG joint venture. Kimberlite was encountered in 6 of 7 drill holes that tested the Anchor target area and is described as a dark grey to black, fine grained, macrocryst-poor, monticellite to carbonate coherent kimberlite. Caustic fusion results of drill core samples have been received and are summarized in the table in the full release.
The presence of microdiamonds in this fine grained kimberlite is encouraging and a kimberlite indicator mineral (KIM) characterization study is underway to compare the Anchor kimberlite mantle sample with the distribution of KIMs in the local till sample database to aid in identifying additional drill targets in the area. This work is part of a full review of the project database that is presently underway, including results from LIDAR surveying, ground geophysical surveys, prospecting, till suitability mapping, geophysical anomaly checking and till sampling.
North Arrow also reports the joint venture has approved a 2020 program with a budget of $3.5M, designed to continue with systematic exploration of the project including at least 2,000m of drilling to test new targets. The program is expected to commence in late February or early March 2020 with ground geophysical surveys followed by exploration drilling in late spring or summer. The 2020 exploration program is being fully funded by joint venture partner Dominion Diamond Mines, after which it is expected North Arrow will retain an approximate 18% interest in the project.
Dominion is the operator of the joint venture and field operations are managed by Aurora Geosciences Ltd. (Yellowknife, NWT). Diamond results reported in this news release are based on caustic fusion processing and diamond sorting completed by Saskatchewan Research Council's (SRC) Geoanalytical Laboratories located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. SRC is an independent mineral process laboratory facility which is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard by the Standards Council of Canada as a testing laboratory for diamond analysis. The contents of this news release have been reviewed by Ken Armstrong, P.Geo. (NWT/NU, ON), President and CEO of North Arrow and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.