Barker Reports Favorable Archean Age 3.38 Billion Year Old Mantle Rocks Identified on Its Tasse Diamond Project in East Central B.C.
PRINCE GEORGE, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 5, 2019 / Barker Minerals Ltd. ("BML" on TSX/V) President / CEO Louis Doyle, is pleased to report that the significant and important results from scientific studies led by the University of Windsor's Dr. Ali Polat have interpreted that Archean age mantle rock, subcontinental lithospheric mantle, (SCLM) is present on Barker's Tasse Diamond project. This is a favorable and fertile environment for the formation of diamonds, and many other mineral deposit types, in other Archean age mining districts of the world. The 100% owned Tasse Diamond project is located 180 km south of Prince George and 84 km northeast of Williams Lake, in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. The project has excellent access and infrastructure nearby and could be worked on year round.
The Paper was published in July 2018 for: Elsevier Journal - Tectonophysics
The International Journal of Integrated Solid Earth Sciences and is titled
Petrology and Geochemistry of the Tasse Mantle Xenoliths of the Canadian Cordillera: "A record of Archean to Quaternary Mantle Growth, Metasomatism, Removal, and Melting"
Authors:
Dr. Ali Polat, Robert Frei, Fred J. Longstaffe, Derek J. Thorkelson, Eyal Friedman a).Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada
b) Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Geology Section, 1350 København K, Denmark
c) Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada
d) Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada
Barker Minerals Ltd. President CEO, Louis Doyle states that: "Barker is extremely pleased to be working in collaboration with such a fine group of worldly professionals, scientists and institutions to further the understanding of the surface and basement mantle rocks of this highly mineralized and underexplored district. These groundbreaking scientific studies, together with Barker's exploration efforts, are forging a new modern understanding of the geology which significantly increases the probability of diamonds being discovered, with an Archean age of the mantle material on surface being identified on the Tasse project area it further enhances the possible economic importance of this area by orders of magnitude".
Archean rocks are found in Greenland, Siberia, the Canadian Shield, Montana and Wyoming, the Baltic Shield, the Rhodope Massif, Scotland, India, Brazil, Western Australia, and South Africa. In Archean greenstone-granite belts there are many oceanic lavas, island arcs, and oceanic plateaus; therefore, they commonly contain rock types such as basalts, andesites, rhyolites, granitic plutons, diorite plutons, oceanic cherts, and ultramafic lavas enriched in magnesium which is a special product of the melting of the hot Archean mantle.
These igneous rocks are host to multitudes of economic mineral deposits of gold, silver, chromium, nickel, copper, zinc, platinum group metals as well as diamonds which are important components of the economies of the countries where these mineral deposits are mined.
The Archean Superior Province of Canada contains the Abitibi greenstone belt, which contains some of the world's largest gold and copper-zinc deposits with significant amounts of nickel-copper-platinum group element (PGE) mineralization too.
Dr. Polat et al. state in their paper: "These model ages imply that depletion of the mantle beneath the Canadian Cordillera, at least for some parts, began as early as approximately 3600 Ma (3.6 billion years) (3300 or 3.3 billion years for Tasse) and record a long geologic history".
"Samples with Archean and Paleoproterozoic model ages are interpreted to have been derived from in situ SCLM located beneath the westward continuation of the Hearn province or Nova domain of the Laurentian craton."
"Archean crustal blocks are present in the craton to the east, notably the Hearne province in the south and the Nova domain (possibly a displaced sliver of the Slave province) to the north (Ross, 2002). Both of these domains project geophysically in the subsurface from Alberta to British Columbia"
"It is conceivable for these ancient regions to continue westward to the Omineca belt beneath the Tasse alkaline basalt and xenolith locality. These Archean crustal blocks may be underlain by Archean and Paleoproterozoic mantle, which could have been the source for the mantle xenoliths with early Paleoproterozoic and Archean model ages."
"Another possibility is that the ancient mantle xenoliths were derived from lozenges of SCLM that were dislodged from Archean mantle domains of the Laurentian craton and transported westward to beneath the Cordillera by lateral asthenospheric flow"
Tasse Summary
On February 11, 2011 Barker announced a heavy mineral stream sediment program completed on its Tasse Diamond project had positively identified widespread kimberlite/lamproite indicator minerals indicating the possible presence of multiple kimberlite and/or lamproite sources on the Property.
Of the seven heavy mineral samples analyzed, all seven contained multiple types of kimberlite indicator minerals including one or more of: Pyrope Peridotite garnet (1); Eclogitic garnets (11); Chromites (56); Orthopyroxenes (126); Clinopyroxenes (Chrome Diopsides) (312); Olivines (154) with lessor Ilmenites.
A circular magnetic high is coincident with a hill near two sample locations (#6 and #7) which covers 15 sq kms and is believed to be a part of a volcanic vent complex. Vesicular breccia associated with the vent (hill) contains abundant large clasts and xenoliths of coarse granular olivine, pyroxene and garnet, and is considered to be mantle peridotite. The hill is believed to be associated with a lamproite or kimberlite diatreme and the xenoliths of mantle rock in the breccia could possibly contain diamonds.
President/CEO, Louis Doyle states: "The discovery of widespread favourable kimberlite and diamond indicator minerals amongst a large cluster of circular magnetic highs associated with Archean age kimberlite/lamproite bedrock mantle rocks is another significant milestone and major step forward in the diamond exploration process".
With little to no overburden, and many target areas being logged off creating easy access, the Tasse project has extremely attractive and exciting targets for the potential discovery of diamonds. Kimberlite indicator minerals, which are much more abundant than diamonds themselves, are very useful as pathfinders to vector in to potential kimberlites/lamproites for further evaluation of diamond potential. If diamonds are present in the region, then placer diamond deposits could possibly be found in ancient till covered paleo-channels very close to their original bedrock sources.
Diamond Deposit Models Sought
As kimberlites and lamproites have different indicators and garnet geochemistry than subduction related diamond environments, all of the above models will be considered in future exploration to achieve a better geological understanding of the area in order to determine which model has the most economic potential.
On April 20, 2009 Barker announced that kimberlite indicator minerals, which are formed at similar depths in the mantle as diamonds, were identified from four bedrock samples including: bright green clinopyroxenes (chrome diopsides); forsteritic olivine; ilmenites; chromites; yellowish orange to reddish purple eclogitic garnets; and unidentified clear minerals. The identification of eclogitic garnets together with other kimberlite indicator minerals indicates that the Tasse mantle rock has been sampled deep enough in the mantle to tap the diamond stability field, and thus could contain diamonds. Eclogitic material is often a prolific diamond producer such as at the large Argyle world class diamond mine in Australia.
Airborne Magnetic Targets
On November 27, 2009 Barker announced that the Geological Survey of Canada completed a detailed Electromagnetic (EM) and Magnetic Airborne Survey (The Cariboo Lake EM/Mag Survey) over the Tasse project area.
One of the most prominent magnetic features over the survey area is a cluster of fifteen moderate to high strength circular anomalies which appear to be a cluster of mantle pipes. The heavy mineral concentrate samples collected from areas in and around this cluster of anomalies indicate the presence of multiple kimberlites and/or lamproites nearby. The first pass heavy mineral sampling results have identified bedrock targets within the cluster of anomalies for follow up programs to determine if economic diamonds exist on the property.
The identification of a new potential kimberlite field with Archean age subcontinental lithospheric mantle rocks present on surface is very exciting and somewhat changes the previous geological understanding of the already highly prospective Cariboo region. The immediate area of Barker's project areas has had numerous significant magmatic events dating from Archean, mid-Devonian and Permian through and until the more recent Holocene time which suggested the region may represent a mantle root environment. It is possible the claim area overlies a tongue from the craton of ancient North America, which is indicated by the presence of a positive Free Air Gravity anomaly, from previous government surveys, which was interpreted to reflect deep cratonic basement rocks.
The next phase of exploration is to evaluate the known bedrock targets with mapping and detailed sampling with possible bulk sampling for micro diamond and diamond indicator analysis in order to prioritize targets for more detailed follow up programs. Further heavy mineral stream sediment sampling programs should be conducted on a property wide basis in order to identify other targets which may possess potential for the discovery of kimberlites, lamproites and possibly diamonds.
Although results to date are very positive and important, they are early stage findings requiring further follow-up exploration and analysis to determine if diamonds are present on the property, and whether economic potential exists.
New Staking of Strategic Targets
The increased importance of the identification of Archean age rocks on Barker's project areas cannot be overstated. As such, one of Barker's Directors received Board approval to stake strategic targets and important bridges to make Barker's project areas mostly continuous once again. These new strategic mineral claim projects comprised of a total of 5,403 hectares (13,351 acres) will be vended into Barker in lieu of a yet to be determined form of compensation, which will be subject to Board of Director, and Regulatory approvals, where required.
The areas which have been recently staked demonstrate potential for the discovery of a variety of deposit types including SEDEX, VMS +/-(Cu/Zn/Pb/Ag/Au), Gold, Silver, PGE's and Diamonds.
The scientific and technical information contained in this news release was prepared under the supervision of Rein Turna, B.Sc., P.Geo. the Company's "qualified person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
About Barker Minerals
Barker Minerals is advancing exploration on its mineral properties in the Cariboo Gold District, one of the most mineralized belts in British Columbia. The Company has more than 20 projects on its exploration properties, all of which are 100% owned by Barker Minerals. Eight projects have drill-ready gold and/or massive sulphide targets defined.
Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking information, including those relating to "plans" of the Company. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors -- including the availability of funds, the results of financing and exploration activities, the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data, project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses and other risks identified by the Company in its public securities filings -- that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.barkerminerals.com OR CONTACT EITHER:
Louis E. Doyle Robert H. Kuhl
Tel: (250) 613-2692 Tel: (604) 321-0709
barker@telus.net bmls@shaw.ca
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SOURCE: Barker Minerals Ltd.