Field Trip OVERVIEW 

The 12th International Kimberlite Conference (12 IKC) is being held in July 2024 when it will celebrate ‘30 Years of Diamonds in Canada’, during which hundreds of kimberlites were discovered across Canada, leading to the opening of seven mines and Canada becoming one of the top three diamond producers in the world (by value). The 12 IKC Field Trips are summarised below:

Field Trip Coordinators: Chris Hrkac, Barrett Elliott and Gary Vivian

• FT01 – Northwest Territories Diamond Mines – Chris Hrkac, Eileen Lyon, Barrett Elliott and Gary Vivian – CONFIRMED
• FT02 – Kimberlites From Across Canada –  CANCELLED
• FT03 – Slave Craton Geology – Hendrik Falck – CONFIRMED
• FT04 – Northwest Territories Kimberlite Drill Core Collection – Scott Cairns – CONFIRMED
• FT05A – Advances in Drift Prospecting for Kimberlite in Canada – David Sacco  – CANCELLED
• FT05B – Short Course on Advances in Drift Prospecting for Kimberlite in Canada – David Sacco – CONFIRMED
• FT06 – Diamonds de Canada – Derrick Sangris, German Villegas – CONFIRMED
• PRE-FT07A and PRE-FTA07B – Kennady North Project Drill Core – Casey Hetman, Kimberley Webb, Tom McCandless and Chris Hrkac – CONFIRMED
• POST-FT07C – Kennady North Project Drill Core – Casey Hetman, Kimberley Webb, Tom McCandless and Chris Hrkac – CANCELLED

CONFIRMED: FT01 – This pre-conference, multi-day Northwest Territories Diamond Mines field trip offers an opportunity travel to the remote Canadian tundra to visit all three of the operating diamond mines in the Northwest Territories, Canada. As well you will have a chance to view drillcore from Kennady Diamonds Inc’s Kelvin and Faraday Kimberlites located next to the Mountain Province and De Beers Gahcho Kué Mine.

CANCELLED: FT02 – This post-conference Kimberlites From Across Canada field trip will give participants a chance to view examples of kimberlite drillcores from across the country at the Northwest Territories Geological Survey’s core facility in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, the Kennady Diamonds Inc Yellowknife core facility as well as the De Beers core facility in Calgary, Alberta. On this trip, you will see kimberlite drillcores including the following diamond mines: Ekati, Diavik, Gahcho Kuè, and Snap Lake in Northwest Territories, Jericho in Nunavut, Victor in Ontario and Renard in Quebec. Additional drillcores will include numerous exploration projects displaying the diverse geology of Canadian kimberlites and their many textural varieties.

CONFIRMED: FT03 – This half day pre-conference Slave Craton Geology field trip will explore the Yellowknife greenstone belt, featuring a world-class volcanic sequence in the Slave Craton beautifully exposed near the shores of Great Slave Lake on the former Giant Mine site.

CONFIRMED: FT04 – On these, pre and post-conference, half day Northwest Territories Kimberlite Drill Core Collection field trips, participants can examine kimberlite from the Northwest Territories and Nunavut ranging from approximately 50 to 600 Ma in age showing a variety of kimberlite emplacement types. Drillcore from diamond mines may include the following kimberlite pipes:

• • • Panda, Koala, Leslie and Misery from Ekati Mine,
    • A21 and A154 from Diavik Mine, 
    • Jericho Mine, 
    • Renard in Quebec.

Drillcore from exploration projects may include the following kimberlites: Kelvin-Faraday, DO-27, Drybones, Contwoyto, Mud Lake, Ranch Lake, Dharma, Nicolas Bay, Monument, Big Blue, the recently discovered Anchor and Sequoia kimberlites as well as the Fort à la Corne Project in Saskatchewan.

FT05 – The Advances in Drift Prospecting for Kimberlite in Canada field trip will showcase how glacial processes within the Slave Craton can inform the collection and interpretation of surface sediment samples. Participants will come away from the field trip with a strong appreciation for the implications of different surficial materials and processes for the interpretation of indicator mineral data. While focussed on diamond exploration, the information provided is transferable to exploration for all commodities, including precious and critical metals, lithium, and uranium. This will be offered in two variants:

• • • CANCELLED: FT05A – a half day short course and a one-day float plane trip to the Slave Geological province
    • CONFIRMED: FT05B – a half day short course only.

CONFIRMED: FT06 – The Field Trip to Diamonds de Canada will provide an opportunity to learn about a new technology applied to process of cutting rough diamonds. The owner, Benjamin King revived the Polar Bear diamond, and his facility is dedicated to support Polar Bears of Canada, by cutting only 16,000 diamonds, tied to the number of polar bears left in Canada. Each of the 16,000 would be at a minimum of 1.50 carats and hand selected as a perfect representation of the diamonds from Canada. Diamonds de Canada restarted the Polar Bear diamond cutting for the first time in nearly 20 years. This Field Trip, despite being a short visit for small groups, will allow everyone to ask questions and see how Diamonds de Canada’s unique way of doing things could be a blueprint for creating viable and more sustainable diamond-cutting facilities in other areas where diamonds are discovered. This Field Trip will be offered on Sunday 7 July, Tuesday 9 July and Thursday 11 July. You are encouraged to book the trip now and select the specific time and day once the confirmed programme schedule is released. Majority of the proceeds from this Field Trip will go to Yellowknives Dene First Nation Education Bursary “YKDFN Education Bursary”. This Field Trip is open to Accompanying Persons.

FT07A and B CONFIRMED; FT07C CANCELLED This field trip is an exceptional opportunity to learn about how Kimberley-type Pyroclastic Kimberlites (KPK, formerly known as ‘tuffisitic kimberlite’) form. Participants can view kimberlite drill cores from the Kennady North Project (Kennedy Diamonds Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.), which hosts the Kelvin and Faraday 1, 2 and 3 kimberlites, at their Yellowknife core facility. These kimberlites are eroded, unique shallow-dipping, subterranean, tubular bodies with complex external morphologies comprising multiple phases of kimberlite with KPK, hypabyssal kimberlite (HK) and KPK-HK transitional textures produced deep within the volcanic plumbing system. In addition to drill core participants will have access to cut slabs, photomicrographs, high-resolution core scans, 3D geological models and a variety of other resources.

These are non-standard field trips which are not possible to undertake on an independent basis and there are a limited number of field trips spaces. Register early to reserve your place. Field trip registration requires payment of at least a 10% non-refundable deposit on conference registration and the full field trip registration fee. Field trip participants are required to pay the balance of their conference registration by 23 February 2024. See Important Dates and Registration for further details. If a field trip is full at the time of registration, there will be an option to be added to a waiting list and you will be informed should spaces become available. Accompanying persons may be able to register for certain field trips close to the time of the conference.

In order to be able to attend the field trips, delegates must sign and submit to the Conference Secretariat the 12 IKC Liability Waiver and Consent Form by 24 June 2024.

All persons undertaking field trips do so at their own risk. Field trip participants should anticipate being required to complete waivers of liability or indemnity forms as required by properties being visited, especially the operating mines on FT01. Field Trip FT01 participants are also required to supply personal information such as full names, age, gender and passport numbers with expiry dates at the time of registration and a passport scan must be supplied by 14 April 2024. Passport scans will be collected through a secure registration link.  Please note that there may be restrictions during field trips with regards to safety, personal protective equipment (PPE), security, sampling, alcohol testing, photographic and other electronic equipment Any diamond(s) found by field trip participants (pick-ups) remain the property of the host mine or project and should be handed to mine/project officials immediately. Field trip participants may have to undergo safety and security inductions prior to the mine visits.

Please refer to Important Dates and Registration pages for additional information.