Fingerprinting glacial processes for diamond exploration on Baffin Island

按价值计算，加拿大是全世界第三大钻石生产国（自1998年以来每年约24亿美元）。 钻石产量从零增加到1 500万克拉，仅来自四个矿场（三个在西北地区，一个在北方安大略）。 钻石勘探一年可花费一亿多美元，部分原因是北部地处偏远，部分原因是使用昂贵的地球物理方法来确定可能小到几米半径的钻石矿石（金伯利岩）的露头位置。 在过去的200万年里，金伯利岩通常被沉积物覆盖，或者被冰盖侵蚀和分散在数百平方公里的范围内。 因此，大部分的探索都依赖于我们解释冰川动力学历史和追踪金伯利岩“面包屑”的能力。 复杂性，如冰流方向的变化，多次冰川作用，以及控制金伯利岩侵蚀或运输量的冰下条件，使这种矿物勘探方法具有风险。 拟议研究的目标是开发新的和创新的方法，将提高我们的知识冰川过程，以及它们如何影响矿产勘探在加拿大北方，特别是在巴芬岛。 我们将结合一种新的同位素地球化学方法，其特征是冰下条件，与一个完善的实地战略，建立在几十年的冰川沉积物矿物勘探。 努纳武特巴芬岛的霍尔半岛是测试这种方法的理想地点，因为它有明显的金伯利岩迹象，并被认为表现出冰川的复杂性，相信在加拿大其他地方运作。 我们的NSERC-CRD行业合作伙伴Peregrine Diamonds Inc正在促进这些矿产勘探开发的测试，并提供实物和匹配支持，以抵消这种偏远环境的测绘，取样和同位素地球化学的高成本。

Canada is the third largest diamond producer by value worldwide (approximately $2.4 billion per year since 1998). Diamond production has increased from zero to 15 million carats from only four mines (three in the Northwest Territories and one in northern Ontario). Over a hundred million dollars can be spent in a single year on diamond exploration, in part due to the remoteness of the north, and in part due to use of expensive geophysical methods to locate outcroppings of diamond ore (kimberlite) that may be as small as a few metres radius. Often the kimberlite is covered by sediment or is eroded and scattered over hundreds of square kilometres by ice sheets over the past two million years. Therefore much of the exploration relies on our ability to interpret the history of glacial dynamics and trace the kimberlite 'bread crumbs' back to their source. Complexities such as changes in ice flow direction, multiple glaciations, and subglacial conditions that control the amount of erosion or transportation of kimberlite make this mineral exploration approach risky. The goal of the proposed research is to develop new and innovative approaches that will improve our knowledge of glacial processes and how they affect mineral exploration in northern Canada, particularly on Baffin Island. We will couple a novel isotope geochemistry method that characterises the subglacial conditions, with a refined field strategy that builds on decades of mineral exploration in glacial sediment. Hall Peninsula, Baffin Island, Nunavut, is an ideal location for the test of this approach because it has significant indications of kimberlite and is known to exhibit the glacial complexities believed to operate elsewhere in Canada. Our NSERC-CRD industry partner Peregrine Diamonds Inc is facilitating the testing of these developments in mineral exploration with in-kind and matching support at the level required to offset high costs of mapping, sampling, and isotope geochemistry for this remote setting.