Kennady Diamonds has said that it has received approval from the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board (MVLWB) for amendments to the Company’s Type A Land Use Permit and Type B Water License. This clears the way for expanded exploration and evaluation programs at the Kennady North project, the company said in a release yesterday.

The camp capacity will now be increased from 50 to 150 persons and this will enable the Company to undertake a broader range of activities, it added.

Kennady Diamonds CEO Patrick Evans said: “We welcome the decision by the MVLWB. It will allow us to expand our camp facilities at Kennady North to accommodate a broader range of activities, including core drilling, bulk sampling, environmental studies and engineering studies; all of which are scheduled to commence during Q1 2016.”

The Kelvin Camp opened on January 5, for the 2016 exploration and evaluation programmes and construction of the bulk of the ice infrastructure has been completed, which includes the Kelvin ice road, ice runway and ice pads for drilling, the release added.

The Company said that the first drill crews are scheduled to arrive at Kelvin Camp by the end of the week and core drilling at Faraday 1 is expected to commence shortly afterwards. The proposed 500 tonne Kelvin North bulk sampling is expected to be completed by the end of March, 2016.

Kennady also said that the maiden NI 43-101 resource statement for the Kelvin kimberlite is nearing completion and expected to be released shortly.