North Arrow done till sampling
Results will have major impact on future fundraising and any drilling plans, says CEO
Karen K. Ho
Northern News Services
Monday, September 21, 2015
SANIRAJAK/HALL BEACH
The results of diamond exploration company North Arrow Minerals Inc.'s latest till sampling program at its Mel Diamond project will have a major impact on the company's activities in 2016 according to the company's president and CEO.
A helicopter hovers above a waterfall on the Mel Project after dropping off geologist Art Kidston to conduct till sampling. - photo courtesy of North Arrow Minerals |
Kenneth Armstrong told Nunavut News/North the results from the 227 till samples will strongly affect how much more exploration work will need to be done, if the site is ready for drill testing and even how much money it can fundraise next year.
"I think if we get some really fantastic results, it would certainly be helpful in raising money," he said. "But the result is such that we need to raise money for more till sampling, then that'll be difficult for fundraising that kind of exploration at this point in the market.
The Mel diamond project is approximately 140 kilometres south of the community of Hall Beach, 210 kilometres northeast of the community of Naujaat (Repulse Bay) and less than 10 kilometres from tide water on the Melville Peninsula. This is also the location of the company's Qilalugaq diamond project.
Armstrong said the till sampling program at Mel diamond was completed in August and called it significant for the amount of additional information it would provide the company.
After transportation by sealift to Montreal and then to the processing company Microlithics Labratories in Thunder Bay, Ont., in early October, Armstrong said the company expects results in February or March.
"With till samples you get a visual identification of indicator minerals," he said, describing the process where someone goes through and sorts the concentrates that come out of the mechanical separation phase and then identifies grains that indicate kimberlite, the type of rock that sometimes contains diamonds. "If the company decides to, and we always do, then you'll take a selection of those grains and send them to another lab to determine their chemical makeup. It's called an electron microprobe analysis and it gives you the mineral chemistry."
While he said the current fundraising environment for many exploration companies right now is "abysmal," Armstrong said projects operating in the territory experience the effects of this difficult capital market much more.
"A dollar spent in the Northwest Territories or Nunavut, you don't get the equivalent amount of work or information for the spending of the same dollar as the same jurisdiction that has road or power infrastructure that's readily available," he said. "That's just the way things are."
In addition to the Mel Project, North Arrow has two other diamond projects in the territory - Qilalugaq and Luxx.
Armstrong said the 15 per cent Mining Exploration Tax Credit did have a strong financial impact on his company, as the vast majority of its current funds came from flow-through shares, a tax-friendly type of financial investment that was created as a result of the program.
"The investors were specifically willing to invest in the company on that basis," he said. "We're definitely taking advantage of that in order to get that money. If we had not, we would have had no money and would have done no work."
The Conservative Party of Canada has promised to extend this tax credit for another three years if Stephen Harper is re-elected prime minister in the upcoming election next month.
