Just noting I am not a Geo, my understanding is most commercial pipes would require double digit carats per hundred ton to be considered potentially viable. This would also require Macro diamonds not micro (as was the Brooking results). This would just be the first test to a commercial pipe, likely requiring a larger bulk sample to prove up resource and drilling for parameters. Argyle was around 30ct per ton which was unusually high, though had predominantly smaller diamonds.
The grade at depth is usually fairly constant, assuming one stream of Kimberlite, so as long as you start fully in Kimberlite what is at the top in grade is the same as below. I think I read there was 6 meters of overburden removed to expose the Kimberlite.
The grade is only one factor, the other main ones are cost of digging, size of resource and price. Given Type 2a's were found it is likely large diamonds will follow. This has been a problem previously when Type 2a's were not understood, Lucara's Karowe mine was passed over by DeBeers as they considered the grade not good enough.
As I mentioned previously, if a kimberlite field has many pipes tested with no diamonds it is more likely other pipes will also have no diamonds, if pipes have diamonds it is more likely that other pipes will have diamonds. Given several pipes have shown to be diamondiferous at Lulo it is a good sign!
LOM Price at posting:
8.2¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
