Rio Tinto Exploration Canada (RTEC) has started drilling the Fort à la Corne kimberlites, in Saskatchewan, as it reinvestigates these kimberlites that Star Diamond and other companies have previously explored.

The Fort à la Corne kimberlites are outside the Star and Iron South kimberlites, which are the subject of an option agreement between RTEC and Canadian junior Star Diamonds.

RTEC’s HQ core drilling programme consists of 11 holes and some 3 300 m of drilling on five kimberlites. The programme is the first phase of drilling of the brownfields exploration programme to investigate and prioritise the Fort à la Corne kimberlites.

The core drilling programme is being conducted by George Downing Estate Drilling of Grenville, Quebec, using two drill rigs.

RTEC geologists are responsible for the supervision of the drilling programme and Star Diamond and RTEC geologists will conduct subsequent detailed core logging.

"While RTEC's work under the option agreement between Star Diamond and RTEC involves the bulk sampling of the Star and Orion South kimberlites, this additional brownfields exploration programme by RTEC aims to investigate and prioritise the corporation's other kimberlite bodies in the Fort à la Corne diamond district. Star Diamond and other companies had previously completed extensive exploration on these Fort à la Corne kimberlites, including geophysical surveys, pattern core drilling, large diameter drilling and micro- and macrodiamond analyses, which resulted in the documentation of geological models for a number of these bodies. RTEC is using current exploration methods, in addition to in-house exploration methods to reinvestigate the other Fort à la Corne kimberlites to assess and prioritise them for future exploration and evaluation work,” says Star Diamonds senior VP for exploration and development George Read.

In October, Star Diamonds received environmental approval from the Saskatchewan government for the Star-Orion South project, which is estimated to contain 66-million carats that the company intends to recover in a surface mine over a 38-year project life.