 | |
| |
| |
 |  | ||
|
Exploration
Geology
Mineral Rights
Diamonds in Canada’s North |   Exploration Program Sanatana has adopted a three-fold exploration strategy aimed at identifying areas with high potential for discovery of kimberlites. These high potential areas are followed up with detailed exploration programs, which would include but are not limited to, detailed airborne geophysics, ground geophysics, infill till sampling, prospecting and diamond drilling. The first element of Sanatana's exploration strategy was a study in 2004, which consisted of collecting and validating all available geological data over the Mackenzie Diamond Project, compiling this data into three dimensional databases and generating three dimensional models and target areas that are prospective for kimberlite exploration. The second element of Sanatana's exploration strategy was a geochemical program of glacial till sampling aimed at identifying patterns of kimberlite indicator minerals in glacial deposits of till covering the Mackenzie Diamond Project. These indicator minerals were derived from potential diamond bearing rocks known as kimberlites. Indicator minerals are formed under the same temperature and pressure conditions required for the formation of diamonds. These indicator minerals -- pyropes, ilmenite, chrome-diopside and chromite -- are formed at depths of approximately 200 km in the earth's crust and are brought up to or near the surface by kimberlites. These kimberlite pipes may or may not contain diamonds but the mechanism that brings indicator minerals to the surface is the same mechanism that brings diamonds to the surface The layers of glacial till containing kimberlite indicator minerals were formed when the glaciers 'scraped' over kimberlite occurrences and dragged that material along as the ice moved across the landmass and dropped it in the "down-ice" direction. Glacial till samples are collected and the number of each indicator mineral is counted. Over 1300 till samples were collected from the Mackenzie Diamond Project in 2004 and 2135 till samples were collected from the property in 2005. Each till sample weighs about 25kg and they are processed and analyzed for kimberlite indicator minerals. The analysis laboratories returned anomalous kimberlite indicator mineral counts from many of the till samples collected in 2004 and 2005. Processing of the till samples collected in 2004 and 2005 was conducted at the Kennecott Diamond Laboratory in Thunder Bay, Ontario and the Vancouver Indicator Processing Laboratory in Vancouver, British Columbia. The third element of the Company's exploration strategy is a program of airborne magnetic geophysical surveys aimed at identifying kimberlite clusters. Airborne geophysics offers a high level examination of the material below the glacial till that blankets this area of Canada to depths of 100 meters -- it allows a look 'through' the glacial debris of sand, gravel and boulder sized materials to the rock below. The resulting geophysical maps illustrate "anomalies" or potential areas of interest based on geophysical responses (magnetic and /or gravity) which geologists interpret to determine what type of material may be below the glacial till. Airborne surveying of the Mackenzie Diamond Project at 400 meter line spacing commenced in May, 2005 with a total of approximately 160,000 line kilometres completed by the end of November, 2005. The balance of approximately 20,000 line kilometers was completed in the Spring 2006. Sanatana's technical team, led by Buddy Doyle with input from a complement of technical experts from Kennecott Canada, evaluates all the geological data derived from each of the exploration strategy to determine drill targets. 2006 Sanatana's 2006 exploration program focused on two main areas within the Mackenzie Diamond Project -- the Kilekale Lake and the Coville Lake -- Lac des Bois areas. Drill targets in the Kilekale Lake area were identified by a helicopter-borne low level magnetic survey done at 100 metre spacings. Sanatana also undertook ground geophysical surveys in these areas and 8 of 30 targets identified in the previous exploration season were drilled. Sanatana will also carry out glacial till sampling, ground geophysics and drilling on other target areas with the Mackenzie Diamond Project area. Total exploration expenditures for the 2006 exploration program will be in the range of $8 million to $12 million when analysis and data collection are complete. Sanatana plans to issue press releases as results become available during various stages through the 2006 exploration season. 2005 Sanatana carried out a robust exploration program during 2005 with an expenditure of approximately C$10 million. This program consisted of an airborne geophysical survey of the Mackenzie Diamond Project, undertaken from May to November of 2005, which is considered to be the largest airborne geophysics survey undertaken in North America -- more than 160,000 line kilometres. The data collected from this survey was analyzed, resulting in the identification of geophysical anomalies which could indicate the presence of kimberlite pipes. The further examination of the anomalies identified at the beginning of the field season became the basis for the summer 2005 exploration program. During the 2005 summer exploration season, Sanatana collected 2135 glacial till samples destined for geochemical analysis. The total weight of all of these samples was roughly 80 tonnes. The Kennecott Diamond Laboratory processed and analyzed these samples for recovery of kimberlite indicator minerals. The total cost of the till sampling, processing and analysis program was approximately C$3.2 million The 2005 exploration season ended in November with data analysis forming the basis for the 2006 exploration season and further examination of the anomalies identified. 2004 Initial exploration of the Mackenzie Diamond Project consisted of the collection of more than 1,400 glacial till samples which were analyzed for diamond indicator minerals. From these wide-spaced till samples, a number of anomalies were identified -- enough positive information was interpreted from these samples to warrant more in-depth investigation of these broad areas within Sanatana's vast landholdings. | ||
| |||