TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian junior Peregrine Diamonds has discovered eight new kimberlites at its Chidliak project, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, the firm announced on Monday.

Six of the new kimberlites, CH-19, CH-21 and CH-23 to CH-26 were discovered at surface by prospecting, and the other two, CH-20 and CH-22, were discovered by drilling.

Peregrine has also collected mini-bulk samples of about 13 t and 50 t respectively from the CH-6 and CH-7 kimberlites at Chidliak.

"The 2010 Chidliak exploration programme is off to a great start with ten new kimberlite discoveries since May,” commented president Brooke Clements.

“These discoveries confirm the exploration potential that Chidliak offers and that we have a large field of kimberlites to evaluate.”

The company expects to follow up with more discoveries, and is aiming to confirm that several of the kimberlites found this year could potentially be economically mined.

It has already confirmed kimberlites CH-1, CH-6 and CH-7 as candidates for economic potential in Arctic settings.

The world's biggest miner, BHP Billiton, is exercising an earn-in right on the Chidliak project by spending $22,3-million on exploration for a 51% stake.

The group sole-funded a $9,2-million exploration programme in 2009, and Peregrine reported on Monday that the budget for this year's exploration programme has been increased from $13,5-million to $15,3-million.

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