BAN getting warm again today! Saw this article which sugggests that the UK players have some interest in wawa - now the article sounds a little slanted - like they think that they have something - although no one knows who they are or where they are. But they think we need the majors - we'll see. BAN gets some glow as well as Pele.
HIDEFIELD, A RECENT AIM LISTING, FINDS ITELF IN A DIAMOND HOT SPOT.
Some time ago Minews came across Canadian Listed Pele Mountain when it had been exploring for gold up near the Hemlo gold belt in Northern Ontario and had come across diamonds. Every explorer need a bit of luck, but this was a mega slice and it has continued as more diamonds have been found in the area and Kennecott, Rio Tinto's exploration arm, is now considering a joint venture subject to results from tests being carried out on a bulk sample .
It is of particular interest to UK investors as Hidefield, the company recently listed on AIM which is John Prochnau's attempt at Brancote Mark 11, also has some ground in the Wawa region. Still early days for Hidefield and managing director Cedric Middleton seemed a bit amazed to find that part of the Hidefield portfolio is already attracting attention. He may be even more surprised to hear that Band-Ore Resources has just had some encouraging results from tests on a number of samples from its GQ diamond property also located north of Wawa. Fourteen of the twenty four samples contained diamonds and these samples returned a total of 10 macrodiamonds and 269 microdiamonds.
The samples appear to have been taken from outcrops some distance from the company's original diamond discovery and some of the micro and macro diamonds were pink and others were green, amber, rose and yellow, though the majority were white. Band-Ore's successes will add to the pressure on Pele Mountain as it awaits Kennecott's decision. The 9.4 tonne bulk sample on which it all hinges has been transported to Lakefield Research where it is expected to be processed for macro diamond recovery within 30 days. The bulk sample consists of hard rock and weathered outcrop of xenolith bearing lamprophyre, mined from the Destiny Showing on the Festival Property where Pele previously announced the discovery of 108 diamonds.
Some idea of the pressure on Pele Mountain can be gauged from the fact that it announced a placing to raise up to C$500,000 last October, but so far nothing seems to have materialised though a small additional placing was announced in January . More recently the company satisfied a creditor for C$32,000 with an escrowed issue of shares in the company and Kennecott has agreed to pay the C$25,000 cost of processing the bulk sample at Lakefield. In return, Kennecott will have the exclusive right to negotiate a joint venture for 60 days following receipt of the final results of the bulk sample. Kennecott will notify Pele within 10 days of the final results whether or not they elect to pursue negotiations.
The financial pressure it is under does not leave Pele Mountain with much negotiating power if Kennecott decides to go ahead. Maybe such a decision would allow it to raise funds to pay its way in an exploration programme, but the likely outcome is that it will be severely diluted from its present 100 per cent ownership. The interpretation seems to be that the Canadian investing public is not that enthused about the diamond exploration plays around Wawa. This leaves the field open to Hidefield, if it plays its cards carefully, to do some interesting deals in the area. Its shares are some 50 per cent above the issue price
17 January 2001 |
