I believe that caustic may not be the best way to dissolve the hematite. At this stage, our options are limited by the generic processes being used at the SRC and elsewhere.

If Mud Lake is proved to contain enough diamonds to make it anywhere close to being profitable to mine, I think that a commercially viable process could be developed. This may take the form of breaking down the hematite chemically, then, as AKDude mentioned, some form of mechanical de-brading.

There are a lot of theories being discussed that have yet to be confirmed, but the important thing to remember, in my opinion, is that any additional processes (if needed) will add to the cost of extracting the kimberlite and recovering the diamonds. However, unlike many other mines in the NWT, the location of Mud Lake makes the play a lot less sensitive to cost add-ons of this nature.

I hope that this helps.....peterjr