Displaced Extension Of Slave Diamond Corridor - Geophysical Evidence

The Slave “Diamond Corridor” is a north northwest trend that appears to have controlled the emplacement of the most significantly diamondiferous kimberlites of the Slave craton of northern Canada and any extension of the corridor is prime diamond exploration country. A northern extension of the corridor into the Lena West diamond area of the Northwest Territories that includes the diamondiferous Darnley Bay and Dharma kimberlites requires major left-lateral displacements (~350km) that are not generally recognised and are not identified in the surface geology. Major faults are recognised by Zolnai in the petroleum literature and there is geomorphological and geophysical evidence to support them. Euler deconvolution analysis of regional airborne magnetic surveys show little in the near surface platform rocks but strong linear breaks that coincide with other evidence of faulting in the deeper basement rocks Discovery of an economic diamond field in a corridor south of Darnley Bay striking parallel to the Slave “Diamond Corridor” will support continuity of the corridor and the need for a major displacement.