NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
Finding diamond deposits is not as easy today, but the Northwest Territories shows enough potential that heavy hitters of the past are returning for the next round.

A photo of Canterra Minerals' exploration properties in the South Slave region. CEO Randy Turner is back and excited about further diamond prospects in the territories. - photo courtesy of Canterra Minerals

"It's fun to be back," said Randy Turner, CEO of Canterra Minerals and one of the key players in discovery of the Snap Lake diamond deposit in 1996.

He's back with a team, some new and some old, looking for the next "hidden elephants" in the territory.

"One of the reasons we came back to the Northwest Territories is because we're a firm believer other diamond discoveries will be made," said Turner over the phone from Vancouver.

"We think that there's great opportunity and it's fun to be back up there exploring. We had great success in the past and we're looking to have success in the future."

Turner was part of the staking rush from 1992 to 1994. His team acquired close to two million acres through staking or land deals and the end result was the discovery of what became the Snap Lake diamond mine. De Beers took over the project in 2000 advancing it into becoming one of the three diamond mines in the territory. After, Turner spun out an exploration company called Canterra Minerals.

Starting last year, Canterra has been using some old ideas from the '90s and new ones to so far come up with eight different properties between Snap Lake and Gahcho Kue, the latter of which will be the next big deposit mined in the territory.

"We think we have a very crucial land position out there," said Turner.

It's not the staking rush seen in the '90s or early '00s, but there is a lot of activity going on today.

"I would say that we're the dominant player out there (between Snap Lake and Gahcho Kué)," said Turner.

Turner said there's a better understanding of diamond placement and mineral chemistry today.

"Let's face it," said Turner. "Most of us maybe knew about diamond exploration (in the '90s) but very few had real hands-on experience and knowledge."

That's one of the reasons Turner went to Russia and hired a number of their folk, as Russians are some of the world's leaders on diamond exploration.

"I think we've got a lot more knowledge," he said. "We understand glacial till out there a lot better than we did. We understand geophysics a lot more."

Glacial till is the geological remnants of moving glaciers which explorers use to judge the mineral potential in a given area.

Airborne gravity which is one of the new processes Turner is using in geophysic diamond exploration which uses a magnetic field to find potentially diamond rich zones.

"I think the most obvious targets were all discovered back in the '90s," said Turner. "Now it's finding the hidden elephants out there and that's by digging apart the glacial till, looking at the mineral chemistry and applying new geophysical techniques."

He's optimistic about the future of the diamond industry in the North.

"(The next mines) will not be the size of the Ekatis or the Diaviks because those ones are the obvious ones and they were found," he said. "It will be the smaller deposits but at the same time high grade. Based on mineral chemistry, there are lots of suggestions out there other economic diamond deposits will be found but it's not going to be easy."

Turner wishes the rookies good luck but said he's glad to be back in the game with 25 years of experience.

"If you look back, you'll see the key players that were there in the '90s are the ones that are back again," he said.

Crucial to a bright diamond future is government support, added Turner.

"You have to have the support of the government, the First Nations, the regulators - everybody has to be on side because it takes so long to get a mine into production," he said.

"The government has to get behind with incentives to encourage the junior exploration companies from the south to come back up there and explore because it's a long time between discovery and development."

Canterra is still putting together results from its exploration and till-sampling program last summer while budgeting for 2015. Turner says the company should have an outline of its plans around May this year.

In the meantime, he's glad to be back.