Lucapa identifies seven new kimberlite targets at Merlin in Australia

Lucapa Diamond Company Limited has identified seven new kimberlite targets on the Merlin Diamond Project in the Northern Territory through interpretation of historical De Beers airborne hyperspectral data, as announced by the company.
As per the announcement on 11 April 2022, in 1997 and prior to mining commencing at Merlin by Ashton and Rio Tinto in 1999, De Beers used its proprietary Airborne Multispectral Scanner technology to fly over an area in the Northern Territory including Merlin. The signatures identified display elevated magnesium rich clay readings, which are commonly associated with kimberlites. The seven selected kimberlite targets lie ~3km to the east of the known Merlin kimberlites.
According to the company, the seven selected targets will be followed up with visual ground inspection, soil samples for spectral analysis and heavy mineral soil samples. The data is being integrated with existing airborne geophysics, ground geophysics, heavy mineral soil sampling and geochemical soil sampling to identify additional kimberlite targets for follow-up.
Additional geophysical work is also planned for the large magnetic target on the exploration licence in 2022. Lucapa Managing Director Stephen Wetherall said, “The identification of these kimberlite targets through interpretation of the historical De Beers hyperspectral data increases our confidence that there could be more diamondiferous kimberlites at Merlin beyond the 13 previously identified. This is a very positive first step by our technical team and we look forward to growing our exploration efforts at Merlin.”

Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished