Kalahari has, along with its joint venture partner Chalice Diamond Resources, acquired an extensive diamond prospective land position in the Sault Saint Marie mining district.  Located primarily in the Buckland, Delmage, and Dolson townships these properties cover some 9,100 hectares approximately 50km east of Wawa.  Geophysical surveys have revealed several Keating anomalies which will be the focus of further exploration.

The Wawa – Chapleau Project area is underlain by the Archean age Michipicoten Greenstone Belt (MGB) and older basement granitoid rocks.   Being Archean in age, the MGB was emplaced when the crust of the earth was much thinner than it is today.   The MGB also has the greatest number of diamond occurrences in Archean rocks in Ontario and possibly in all of North America.  The diamonds occur in a variety of unusual Archean rocks with a large percentage being micro diamonds.  However, gem quality macro-diamonds have also been found.

Dianor’s recent discovery on the Leadbetter property near Wawa may prove to be the largest concentration of diamonds ever discovered in North America.

Why are diamonds so plentiful in the MGB?  Part of the answer might be in the fact that diamonds are formed just below the bottom of the earth’s crust in the upper mantle.  Given the earth’s crust was much thinner in the Archean time, the potential to have diamonds brought up to surface into the MGB by kimberlite dykes, pipes or thrust faulting, similar to ophiolite rocks today, may have been greater.  However, there are many Archean age greenstone belts in the world that were formed when the crust was thinner.  Therefore, why don’t those greenstone belts contain a large number of diamonds?

The reason for the propensity of diamonds found in a variety of rock types in the MGB may also lie in the nature of the mantle under the MGB.  The mantle may be of a chemical and physical composition enriched in carbon and/or other elements that result in substantial diamond formation.  Therefore, a mantle pregnant in diamonds may exist under the MGB but not elsewhere.