De Beers Canada has signed an agreement to spend up to $20.4 million on diamond exploration targets staked by CanAlaska Uranium in the northwestern Athabasca Basin.
The claims staked by CanAlaska and optioned to De Beers cover 75 kimberlite-style targets over a 17,400-hectare area developed from a 2011 high resolution airborne geophysical survey carried out on behalf of the Saskatchewan Geological Survey.
There is little exploration work in this area of the Athabasca Basin.
The multi-stage, option agreement allows De Beers to carry out a series of work programs to earn-in to the project over the next seven years.
De Beers is required to progress through the options within the time periods or return the property to CanAlaska. However, the sequential options are subject to CanAlaska’s right to participate in the exploration as a joint venture partner.
The work programs will be operated by De Beers, but with assistance from CanAlaska.
The priority work will include a detailed airborne survey, diamond indicator sampling in the vicinity of the targets, followed by drill testing prioritized targets.