Patrician Diamonds Inc. has made a brilliant discovery at its Northwest Territories mining project, with the announcement of its first microdiamond recovery in years.

The Ottawa-based junior mining company said it has recovered six microdiamonds from small core samples from the first hole diamond drilled to test the Hillside kimberlite deposits from its Doctor Lake mine.

"Patrician's management is very encouraged with the results," the company's statement read. "They confirm that Hillside is diamond-bearing and suggest that other kimberlite targets in the project area may have good diamond potential. Hillside is the first reported diamond-bearing kimberlite discovered in the region west of Great Bear Lake."

The six microdiamonds collected from the upper part of the kimberlite ranged in size from 0.106 to 0.15 millimetres, and weighed 111.5 kilograms in total.

The company said previous work conducted immediately to the north of Doctor Lake by other companies had recovered only stream-source diamonds and indicator minerals, but not diamond-bearing kimberlitic sources.

Patrician began drilling for diamonds in the Doctor Lake region in April. This latest announcement is the first significant diamond discovery since 2004, when the company said it had recovered five diamonds at its Baffin Island project.