Manitoba diamond discovery stirs interest

Following up on an initial diamond discovery in Manitoba from 2008, a group of prospectors working with the Manitoba Geological Survey (MGS) has found diamonds in the Knee Lake area of northeast Manitoba. The Lynx Consortium announced the find in March, and Mark Fedikow, a consultant and member of the consortium, says it opens up a whole new field of exploration potential for the province as well as opportunities for northern and First Nations communities. “It also demonstrates the value of good geoscience data collection – the Manitoba Geological Survey were extremely important in the discovery because of their geological input,” Fedikow adds. The Knee Lake area saw exploration between 1999 and 2004 by both majors like BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP), De beers and Kennecott and juniors following an MGS multimedia geochemical survey that found anomalous concentrations of kimberlite indicator minerals (KIMs) in glacial till and beach sand. (At the time, Fedikow was one of the MGS geologists who headed up the initial survey.) The first incidence of diamonds found in bedrock in the province was in 2008 when a microdiamond was recovered an 8-kg split sample of conglomerate exposed in outcrop. Continue reading at The Northern Miner.