Kuusamo Diamond Project
 
Regional magnetic grey-scale image showing kimberlite magnetic target locations and extent of Claim and Claim Reservations in which Sunrise Diamonds plc has an interest

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  The diamond exploration interests held by Sunrise Diamonds include six kimberlites in a previously unrecognised cluster in north central Finland, known as the “Kuusamo” kimberlite cluster and numerous additional tested targets in the same area. The Kuusamo project is located in the centre of the Karelian Craton which extends from Sweden, through Finland and eastwards into Russia.

The Company acquired the Kuusamo projects from Tertiary Gold Limited a subsidiary of Sunrise Diamond's parent company Tertiary Minerals plc.

In December 2005 the Company reached agreement with BHP Billiton to acquire its exploration database for Finland, which has an estimated replacement value of over US$10 million. Since then the Company has acquired further target areas including under-evaluated kimberlites in the Kaavi-Kuopio cluster in south central Finland.
Published geochemical data on indicator minerals suggest that the diamond window beneath central Finland may be some 90 kilometres thick, on a par with other cratons in the world containing diamond deposits. Kimberlites are widely distributed in the Karelian Craton and within Finland a higher-than­ average percentage of these kimberlites contain diamonds. Kimberlites have been discovered by Tertiary Gold at three localities in the Kuusamo area:
  • Kalettomanpuro
  • Kattaisenvaara
  • Anomalies 45/47
These projects have been subject to historical data review, interpretation of airborne geophysics, ground geophysical surveys, drilling, core logging, photography, and diamond and diamond indicator mineral picking.

Micro-diamonds have been recovered from the Kattaisenvaara and Anomaly 45 kimberlites.

GTK has undertaken petrological work and mineralogical studies on samples from the Kuusamo kimberlites for Tertiary Gold. This work was designed to characterise the kimberlites and study the diamond bearing capacity of the mantle source rocks for the Kuusamo kimberlites.

The work carried out at Kuusamo so far indicates that the geological conditions considered necessary for the occurrence of diamondiferous kimberlites occur in the Kuusamo area.