Vancouver-based North Arrow Minerals has begun processing a 2,000-tonne bulk sample from its Naujaat diamond project in Nunavut.
The bulk sample was mined from the Q1-4 kimberlite, the largest kimberlite pipe in the eastern Canadian Arctic.
One-third of the sample is now at the Saskatchewan Research Council Geoanalytical Laboratory in Saskatoon for dense media separation, to determine the size distribution of potential yellow diamonds.
The quality of the diamonds will be a key driver for the future development of the Q1-4 deposit, North Arrow chief executive Ken Armstrong said.
North Arrow is anticipating results in the next few weeks.
The Naujaat project has identified eight kimberlite pipes. The Q1-4 deposit contains an inferred mineral resource of 26.1 million carats total diamond content in 48.8 million tonnes of kimberlite.