Star Diamond Acquires Buffalo Hills Project in Alberta

Located approximately 400 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, Buffalo Hills comprises 21 mining claims covering 48 square kilometres and is a significant and accessible diamondiferous kimberlite field, with similarities to the Fort à la Corne kimberlites in Saskatchewan, the company said.

According to Canterra, this region is home to the third largest diamondiferous kimberlite district in Canada, after Lac de Gras in the Northwest Territories and Fort à la Corne.

The property is located in the Buffalo Hills kimberlite district, which contains at least 38 individual kimberlite bodies, 26 of which contain diamonds and a number of which are exposed at surface, he said. Exploration for these kimberlites began in 1996, and small patches of diamonds have been collected during various exploration programs on many of those considered most promising.

“In early 2023, we dusted off the file on this property and conducted a review of the existing diamond parcel that was collected from a bulk sample previously taken in 2010,” Star Diamond CEO Ewan Mason said in a press release.

“Our diamond specialist carefully analyzed the diamonds and we were surprised to find not only abnormal levels of Type IIa diamonds in the sample, but also a presence of fancy yellow diamonds (K6 yellow diamonds) with high modeled diamond prices.”

“It became apparent to us that additional work needed to be done and given the number of pipes on the surface, we felt that a larger sample should be taken to determine how many of the 38 pipes on the property could be profitable. Our plan would be to extract a bulk sample and ship it to Fort à la Corne and analyse it at our on-site bulk sampling facility,” he added.

In March, Star Diamond acquired Rio Tinto Exploration Canada’s 75% interest in Fort à la Corne and now owns 100% of the project. Last year, the company selected the trademark “Kīwētin” (pronounced “kee-way-tin”), which means north wind in the Cree language, for its Fort à la Corne diamonds.