Dunnedin Resumes Drilling at Kahuna Diamond Project, Nunavut
June 20, 2018 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Dunnedin Ventures Inc. (the “Company”) (TSX-V: DVI) today announced drilling has recommenced at its 100% owned Kahuna diamond project, Nunavut. Drill crews and equipment have been mobilized and drilling of high–priority kimberlite targets is underway.
The Company will be drilling approximately 30 targets in June and July 2018. These are mainly located on the northern half of the property, which was not drilled during the first phase of drilling in April 2018.
Chris Taylor, Dunnedin’s CEO said, “The northern project area hosts a dense concentration of kimberlite occurrences and has the most abundant high-quality diamond indicator mineral (DIM) chemistry recovered from our till sampling programs to date. Over 30 historic drill-confirmed kimberlites are known in this area, including approximately 12 kimberlite pipes and a number of kimberlite dikes, the largest of which is the highly diamondiferous Kahuna dike. We have excellent DIM results in the northern project area that correlate to kimberlite pipe-style geophysical targets and will drill as many as possible between now and mid-July.”
Figure 1: Commercial-sized rough diamonds collected by Dunnedin from the Kahuna kimberlite in the northern project area as reported on February 8, 2017.
In addition to a large number of pipe targets the northern project area hosts the Kahuna kimberlite dike which contains a significant diamond resource that remains open to expansion along strike and at depth. It has been drilled to shallow depths of generally less than 80 metres across approximately 4 kilometres of strike, and contains an Inferred Resource of 3,189,000 carats of diamonds (+0.85 mm) from 3,066,000 tonnes of rock, with a bulk sample grade of 1.04 carats per tonne (news release of January 26, 2015).
Figure 2: Drill targets to be tested during June and July 2018
Details of the Drill Program
The Company is using the same Rotary Air Blast (RAB) drill rig employed during the April drill program to test the maximum number of targets. RAB drilling is faster and less expensive than comparable drill techniques, and will allow the Company to rapidly confirm:
1) Whether kimberlite is present at each target,
2) The size of each kimberlite occurrence, and
3) In conjunction with lab results, whether the kimberlite is diamond-bearing.
While many of the identified kimberlite targets are expected to be at or nearly exposed at surface, several of the targets to be tested in June and July are covered by 10–20-metre-thick glacial sediment and are thus not directly exposed. In addition to directly testing kimberlite targets, the RAB drill will also collect DIMs from these sediments. The concentration of DIMs at each drill site will inform the Company regarding proximity to nearby diamond-bearing kimberlite sources, thereby enhancing the Company’s surface-based till sampling results. This information will be used during follow-up drill programs to vector into covered diamondiferous kimberlites that remain undrilled during the current phase of work.
The current RAB drilling is expected to reach depths of 50 to 100 metres, with the goal of collecting up to 250 kilograms of material from each new kimberlite. The material will be analyzed for microdiamond content and results are expected to be received from the lab approximately 8-10 weeks after the drill campaign concludes.
Kimberlites that prove to be significantly diamondiferous will be further drill-tested to determine geometry and to obtain mini-bulk samples that will allow the Company to construct diamond curves characterizing the grades and size distributions of diamonds from each target.
The Company is currently awaiting diamond results from kimberlitic material collected during the first phase of drilling in April.
Jeff Ward, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this release.
For further information please contact Mr. Knox Henderson, Investor Relations, at 604-551-2360 or khenderson@dunnedinventures.com.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Dunnedin Ventures Inc.
Chris Taylor
Chief Executive Officer
About the Kahuna Project
Dunnedin Ventures Inc. (TSX-V: DVI) is a Vancouver-based company whose primary asset is the 100% owned, advanced-stage Kahuna Diamond Project in Nunavut which hosts a high-grade, near surface inferred diamond resource and numerous kimberlite pipe targets. The Company holds diamond interest in 1,664 km2 of mineral tenure located 26 kilometers northeast of Rankin Inlet and adjacent to Agnico Eagle’s Meliadine gold mine. To define and prioritize kimberlite pipe targets Dunnedin has evaluated an extensive historic data set and recovered diamonds and indicator minerals from a series of kimberlite and till samples over three seasons of field work. Working with advisor and shareholder Dr. Chuck Fipke, the Company has used the same till sampling and mineral screening protocols employed during Dr. Fipke’s discovery of Canada’s first diamond mine at Ekati, N.W.T., but improved by over 20 years of additional diamond data and experience. The Kahuna Diamond Project has an Inferred Resource Estimate of 3,987,000 tonnes at an average grade of 1.01 carats per tonne, totalling over 4 million carats of diamonds (+0.85 mm) (see news release dated March 31, 2015). The largest diamond recovered from the property to date is a 5.43 carat stone from the Kahuna dike which was a piece of a larger diamond that had been broken during the sample preparation process and was reconstructed as having an original size of 13.42 carats. Dunnedin is backed by a world-renown team of diamond experts with decades of combined experience in Arctic exploration and capital market strength.
