The Curiosity Property, located in the Slave Province to the southwest of Contwoyto Lake, is situated ~25 kilometers north of the Ekati Diamond Mine’s mineral rights. This newly acquired property hosts a known diamondiferous kimberlite, called “LI-201”, which was originally discovered in a 1997 diamond drill campaign. Multiple attempts have been made over the past twenty years to delineate the extent of the body using an assortment of traditional exploration methods, yet LI-201 continues to remain poorly understood in terms of its overall dimensions and diamond-bearing potential.

As part of a ten-day exploration program in August 2019, 275 geochemical till samples and 170 biogeological samples were collected. Geochemical sampling along 100-meter spaced fences that are down-ice and approximately perpendicular to the main ice-flow direction were collected in an attempt to further prioritize key geophysical targets in the project area surrounding LI-201. 

In the vicinity of LI-201, geochemical and biogeological samples were collected as a pilot study in an attempt to investigate the potential microbial community’s response to the presence of kimberlite and to determine if a discernable relationship exists between soil geochemistry and microbial populations.   

Despite the inconclusive understanding of the kimberlitic body, historical samples of LI-201 show apparent geochemical endowment and bode well for the prospectivity of the project area as a whole. Currently, efforts are being made to compile, verify, and interpret historical data, in addition to integrating newly collected data and interpretations.

At the time of presenting, only preliminary geochemical results will be available; microbiological results are pending. In the future, findings from this study will be used to assess the effectiveness of the microbiological method as a means of detecting the known footprint of LI-201, which may also offer insights to the true footprint of the kimberlitic body.