Resource World Magazine

46 www.resourceworld.com j u n e / j u l y 2 0 1 4 MINING Alto Ventures Ltd. [ATV-TSXV] is exploring for diamonds in a newly dis- covered diamond district in east-central Saskatchewan. The almost 90,000 hectares of diamond exploration properties that Alto recently acquired in the area have never been explored for diamonds. Alto's prospective GEFA claims are contiguous to the property on which the Pikoo diamond discovery was made by North Arrow Minerals Ltd. [NAR-TSXV]. Rick Mazur, CEO and Director of Alto Ventures, stated, "Initial sample results from Pikoo show a favourable size distribution and high diamond counts, including strong potential for commercial size diamonds. The quality of stones, as shown on North Arrow's website, sug- gests that this is a discovery of significance and opens up the northern Saskatchewan Craton as a new diamond district in Canada. We plan to aggressively explore our newly acquired, strategically located properties in this emerging diamond camp." On November 5, 2013, North Arrow Minerals announced that, "high microdiamond counts, demonstrating the potential for a coarse dia- mond size distribution, have been returned from the PK150 kimberlite at Pikoo, a new kim- berlite district located in central eastern Saskatchewan…" A total of 745 diamonds larger than the 0.106 mm sieve size, including 23 diamonds larger than the 0.85 mm sieve size were recovered from a 209.7-kg sample from the PK150 kimberlite. Ken Armstrong, President and CEO of North Arrow stated, "To recover such relatively high counts of +0.85 mm diamonds from the first kimberlite discovered at Pikoo is an exceptional result and estab- lishes Pikoo and the northern Sask Craton as a new diamond district." Alto reports that historically available airborne geophysical surveys have identi- fied priority magnetic anomalies consistent with kimberlite pipes on its GEFA claims. Alto can earn a 60% interest in the GEFA claims, encompassing 13,150 hectares, by spending $750,000 on exploration over 30 months and making total cash payments of $60,000 to the vendors. Summer 2014 exploration plans and budget include airborne geophysics on the GEFA and Fisher claims (just west of the Pikoo discovery) ($250,000) and till sam- pling and kimberlite indicator minerals (KIM) analyses, interpretation and report- ing ($250,000). On April 8, 2014, Alto announced that partial proceeds from a recently com- pleted asset sale and private placement with Virginia Mines Inc. would fund the summer exploration work on its diamond properties. Mazur stated, "Alto is entering into a new and exciting exploration play in Saskatchewan, a great Province to work. The company is well structured, adequately financed to add value to its diamond property and has built diamond expertise in the company." In March 2014, Alto announced the appointment of Martin Doyle, P.Geo., MBA to their board. Doyle has 35 years inter- national experience in the De Beers and Anglo American organizations, includ- ing Senior Vice President, Exploration for De Beers Canada during a phase of mine expansion in Canada. Also on the team is Harrison Cookenboo, Ph.D., P.Geo., Chief Diamond Geologist, who with 20 years diamond experience, was instrumental in the discovery of the Gahcho Kué deposit currently under development by De Beers and Mountain Province Diamonds [MPV- TSX; MDM-NYSE MKT]. n Mike Koziol, President, Alto Ventures. Photos courtesy of Alto Ventures Ltd. Alto Ventures exploring canada's newest diamond district by Kathrine Moore

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