Ashton finds more Nunavut encouragement
Ashton Mining of Canada Inc ACA
Shares issued 36,238,668 Nov 2 close $1.29
Fri 2 Nov 2001 Street Wire
Also Pure Gold Minerals Inc (PUG)
by Will Purcell
Another plant seems to have bloomed for Ashton Mining of Canada, but whether it will ultimately bear fruit remains to be seen. Diamond counts from a small sample taken from the Artemisia kimberlite compare well with most of the other discoveries made in a region that has been producing a number of promising results of late. The Artemisia kimberlite, which is named after a flower, was discovered earlier this year on the Kim property, which is owned by Ashton and its joint venture partner, Pure Gold Minerals Inc. The kimberlite sample weighed 103.2 kilograms, and it yielded 380 diamonds larger than 0.1 millimetre, including 38 stones that were longer than one millimetre. A total of 13 macros were sufficiently large enough to not fall through a 0.5-millimetre mesh, and one diamond exceeded one millimetre in all three dimensions. Two diamonds were longer than one millimetre in one dimension. The small sample might not be representative of the true diamond content of Artemisia, but the diamond counts certainly seem encouraging at this stage. The sample contained about 350 macrodiamonds per tonne, including about 125 macros per tonne that would have remained on a 0.5-millimetre screen. As well, the one larger diamond would seem to suggest that a tonne of Artemisia kimberlite would contain 10 stones that would not fall through a one-millimetre mesh. It must be noted however that diamond recoveries from such small samples are prone to a significant degree of error, and larger samples will be required to determine the chances that Artemisia might contain an economic quantity of diamonds. Although Ashton has been on the receiving end of a fair bit of good news of late, the company' s share price had been slow to respond. That changed Thursday with the results from Artemisia, as Ashton shares gained 41 cents, to close at $1.26. Last week, some equally good results from Ashton' s Potentilla kimberlite sent the company' s stock above the $1 mark briefly, before it retreated to as low as 85 cents to start the current week. Potentilla, named after another flower, is located about 15 kilometres to the east-southeast of Artemisia, on the Kikerk Lake property on which Ashton is earning a 51-per-cent interest from Caledonia Mining Corporation. In all, a total of 207.8 kilograms of Potentilla kimberlite was sent for processing, and it contained 252 diamonds, including 22 macros. Most of the good news from Potentilla came from the diatreme phase of the Potentilla kimberlite however, in the form of larger macrodiamonds. A total of 129 kilograms of diatreme kimberlite was extracted, and it contained 175 stones, including 15 macrodiamonds. The most encouraging news was the fact that the diatreme kimberlite contained some larger macrodiamonds. One of those diamonds measured more than two millimetres in length, and the stone may have weighed in excess of 0.02 carat as a result. As well, at least two other diamonds were found that measured more than one millimetre in length. That was clearly superior to the results from nearly 80 kilograms of rock that had been taken from the hypabyssal phase of Potentilla kimberlite, which did not contain any one-millimetre diamonds, with the largest stone measuring about 0.8 millimetre in length. The Potentilla diatreme contained seven macrodiamonds that failed to fall through a 0.5-millimetre screen, or about 54 per tonne, and one stone was large enough to remain on a one-millimetre mesh, and a second one just missed the mark. The Potentilla result is encouraging at this stage in its own right, although the numbers from Artemisia do appear somewhat better at this very early stage. Ashton is certainly not alone in its pursuit of diamonds in Southern Nunavut, to the northwest of Ekati and Diavik. Tahera has long been active in the region, along with its partner, Kennecott Canada, which is earning an interest in Tahera' s large land position in the region. Kennecott and Tahera have made a number of discoveries in the area, and two of the latest seem especially encouraging. At this stage, the best of the lot is the Anuri kimberlite, which is located roughly 60 kilometres to the south of Artemisia. So far, Kennecott has sent about 656 kilograms of Anuri kimberlite off for processing at its laboratory in Thunder Bay, and the rock has yielded 937 diamonds that are larger than 0.15 millimetre. Included in that total are 337 macrodiamonds, measuring longer than 0.5 millimetre, or just over 500 per tonne. The best news from Anuri is the presence of some larger stones. A total of 61 stones were large enough not to fall through a 0.5-millimetre screen, or about 93 per tonne. That is slightly lower than the figure for Artemisia, although it remains to be seen if the latter number will hold up with larger samples. A total of nine stones from Anuri were sufficiently large not to fall through a one-millimetre mesh, or about 14 per tonne, slightly higher than the Artemisia result. Although the raw mathematics might suggest that there is little to separate the two kimberlites at this early stage, Anuri does have one powerful advantage at this point. One of the nine larger macrodiamonds from Anuri was a whopper, weighing about 0.75 carat. That is a large stone to be recovered from such a small sample, and very few kimberlites have yielded diamonds of that size at this stage of exploration. One notable exception was the initial core taken from the Diavik A-154 South pipe, which yielded two stones weighing more than one carat, including what came to be known as the 1.75-carat Aber diamond, which was discovered during the logging of the core. The Diavik result was ultimately shown to be representative of A-154 South, which has a grade of about five carats per tonne. It remains to be seen if the Anuri diamond is representative of Anuri, or just a fluke. That was not the only good news from Kennecott and Tahera. The two partners have just received the diamond counts from a second kimberlite in close proximity to Anuri. A total of about 78 kilograms of kimberlite was recovered from Anuri East and sent for processing. The sample yielded 68 diamonds, including 18 macro-sized stones. That works out to about 265 macros per tonne, which is just over half the number obtained from Anuri, and about two-thirds the number contained in the Artemisia sample. Just two of the Anuri East diamonds were large enough not to fall through a 0.5-millimetre screen, or about 30 per tonne. One of those stones was sufficiently large that it would have remained on a one-millimetre mesh, and the indicated rate of 15 such stones per tonne is higher than the rate for Anuri and Artemisia. The very small size of the sample from Anuri East renders such comparisons almost meaningless at this stage of course, but the numbers are sufficiently high that Anuri East appears promising as well. Although the diamond counts from Artemisia, Potentilla, Anuri and Anuri East provide hope that one or more of the kimberlites might yield potentially economic quantities of diamonds, the results so far pale in comparison with some other finds in Canada's north, including the main pipes that comprise the Gahcho Kue project at Kennady Lake, where De Beers and Mountain Province Diamonds are hoping to make a mine. For example, a sample of about 300 kilograms of kimberlite from the Hearne pipe produced 763 diamonds, of which 83 were large enough not to fall through a 0.5-millimetre mesh, or about 275 per tonne. It was not the number of macros that led to enthusiasm about Hearne however. Rather, it was the number of larger macros that the samples contained. Three of the diamonds weighed at least 0.2 carat, and 39 of them weighed 0.01 carat, or about 130 per tonne. At least 15 stones were large enough not to fall through a two-millimetre screen, or about 50 per tonne. The parcel of diamonds weighed an impressive 2.23 carats, due in large part to the three larger stones that were recovered. The Hearne pipe has subsequently been mini-bulk tested, and grades approaching two carats per tonne have been obtained. The latest estimate pegs the grade of Hearne at about 1.7 carats per tonne. The results were quite similar for the initial samples taken by De Beers from the AK-5034 pipe, and again some larger diamonds were recovered. Even the Tuzo pipe produced good diamond counts. Kimberlite samples weighing a total of 278 kilograms were initially processed, yielding 697 diamonds, including 52 stones that were large enough to remain on a 0.5-millimetre screen, which indicated a rate of about 187 stones per tonne. Larger diamonds were also found at Tuzo, as the total parcel weighed an impressive 2.48 carats. The results from Artemisia and its neighbours seem to bear a closer resemblance to the Tesla pipe, which is the weakest sister at Kennady Lake. Kimberlite weighing 245 kilograms was initially processed by De Beers, and 188 diamonds were recovered. Of those, 14 were large enough to remain on the 0.5-millimetre screen, which indicated a rate of just under 60 stones per tonne. None of the diamonds were particularly large, as the total weight of the stones was just 0.13 carat. Subsequent mini-bulk samples indicated that the grade at Tesla was just less than 0.4 carat per tonne. Comparisons aside, the real story of Artemisia and the other Nunavut pipes will only be determined by taking larger samples, and that seems in the cards. Ashton has already taken a one-tonne sample from Artemisia, which will be processed for macrodiamonds, and the company also plans to take a larger sample next year. Just how big that sample will be remains to be seen, but it will probably weigh up to about 10 tonnes, based on Ashton' s track record at its Alberta play. Whatever the size, Ashton seems likely to have a busy year ahead of it, and the Nunavut diamond play should continue to attract notice in the coming months. A busier year will require greater outlays of cash, something that could come easier to Ashton than it might for the company's partners. Donald Sheldon and Jack Purdy's Pure Gold initially had a 49-per-cent stake in the play, but its share now sits at just over 10 per cent, after several dilutions through the years. Pure Gold apparently kicked in its share of cash for the latest program on Artemisia, but only time will tell if it will choose to pay its way next year. The company's shareholders certainly seem hopeful that it will. Pure Gold hit an intraday high of 16.5 cents Thursday, before closing up seven cents, at 15 cents. Typically of the stock that never seems able to get out of its own way, it closed Friday at 13.5 cents. |
