The winter 2011 diamond exploration program at the ATW Diamond Property in Canada's Northwest Territories (NWT) is underway, Almaden Minerals announced Monday.

Almaden owns 58.8% of the ATW property, which is located at Mackay Lake. The region boast a number of active diamond mining and diamond exploration projects: the Diavik mine; the Snap Lake Project; and the Gahcho Kue Project (a joint venture between Mountain Province Diamonds and De Beers.)

Morgan Poliquin, CEO of Almaden, noted that the ATW property sits in one of the world's "premier terrains… for diamond-bearing kimberlite pipes" and said that work conducted at ATW had already found a "very promising" mineral train that the diamond company hoped would indicate the presence of a kimberlite.