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A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Attawapiskat Kimberlite Field, Canada: Accelerating the Discovery-to-Production Pipeline

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Proceedings of 10th International Kimberlite Conference

Abstract

Victor Mine is one of 21 known kimberlites within the Attawapiskat kimberlite field, Ontario, Canada. Victor was discovered in 1988 and commercial production began in 2008. In 2008, it was identified that subsequent resource evaluation programs targeting satellite kimberlites within the Attawapiskat kimberlite field required effective integration of multidisciplinary data to identify areas of high prospectivity within the field and identify high-interest pipes early in the exploration pipeline. Systematic relationships were revealed between diamond data and various other data sets (petrography, whole-rock major and trace element compositions, mineral trace element compositions, geophysics, and volcanology) both within the kimberlite field and within individual pipes. The most valuable datasets were identified, gaps in knowledge were determined, and economically relevant projects were formulated. One such project has revealed new emplacement ages for Victor and Uniform kimberlites, which suggest that kimberlite magmas erupted within a relatively narrow time span between ~180 and 170 Ma in the Attawapiskat kimberlite field. The integration of large and complex datasets and the communication between investigators from different fields within the geosciences is highly beneficial to accelerate the discovery-to-production pipeline in the diamond industry.

An erratum to this chapter can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1173-0_20

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. De Beers Canada Inc, 250 Ferrand Drive, Suite 900, Toronto, ON, M3C 3G8, Canada

    N. Januszczak, M. H. Seller, S. Kurszlaukis, C. Murphy, J. Delgaty, K. Ali, J. Zhu & P. Ellemers

  2. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, 1-26 Earth Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E3, Canada

    S. Tappe

  3. Institut für Mineralogie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Corrensstrasse 24, 48149, Münster, Germany

    S. Tappe

  4. De Beers Group Exploration, Private Bag X01, Gauteng, 2135, Johannesburg, South Africa

    S. Tappe

Authors
  1. N. Januszczak
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  2. M. H. Seller
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  3. S. Kurszlaukis
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  4. C. Murphy
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  5. J. Delgaty
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  6. S. Tappe
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  7. K. Ali
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  8. J. Zhu
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  9. P. Ellemers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. Januszczak .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    D Graham Pearson

  2. Dept of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Herman S Grütter

  3. School of Geographical & Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom

    Jeff W Harris

  4. Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Bruce A Kjarsgaard

  5. Finland Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), Espoo, Finland

    Hugh O’Brien

  6. Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    N V Chalapathi Rao

  7. School of Earth Sciences, Bristol University, Bristol, United Kingdom

    Steven Sparks

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Januszczak, N. et al. (2013). A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Attawapiskat Kimberlite Field, Canada: Accelerating the Discovery-to-Production Pipeline. In: Pearson, D., et al. Proceedings of 10th International Kimberlite Conference. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-1173-0_11

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