As usual a long but worthwhile read …
Kaiser Express 2004-01
March 1, 2004
Kimberlite Alley Exploration to heat up in 2004
Synopsis: The surprise hot diamond play in 2004 may turn out to be Kimberlite Alley in the South Slave where the players are De Beers, Mountain Province, Camphor, GGL, Diamonds North, Southernera, Diamondex and Majescor. De Beers has approved aggressive exploration programs for both the Gahcho Kue project joint ventured with Mountain Province Diamonds Inc (MPV-T: $2.68) and Camphor Ventures Inc (CFV-V: $0.78) and the Doyle Lake project joint ventured with GGL Diamond Corp (GGL-V: $0.42). These programs are in addition to the $25 million prefeasibility study underway on the Hearne, Tuzo and 5034 pipes that were the subject of a desktop study in 2003 that proposed a 6,000 tpd diamond mining operation. The new magic bullet consists of ground gravity surveys that will focus on a 3 km wide structural corridor that runs from the Faraday dyke in the northeast 25 km southwest to the Doyle Lake sill. This corridor, dubbed Kimberlite Alley years ago by GGL management, has now been recognized as a structural trend which continues to the northeast onto the Kelsey property owned by Diamondex Resources Ltd (DSP-V: $1.17) and Majescor Resources Inc (MAJ-V: $0.28), and to the southwest onto the Kidme property of Diamonds North Resources Ltd (DDN-V: $1.52) and Southernera Resources Ltd (SUF-T: $5.22). Several targets are already slated for drilling on the Gahcho Kue property, and De Beers has indicated that it intends to drill any targets at least 1 hectare in size before the spring thaw. Indicator mineral densities vary west of Kimberlite Alley, but they will not be used as a targeting tool because some of the known kimberlites have shed very weak indicator mineral trains. Nor will magnetic and EM anomalies play a big role in deciding targets because many such targets have already been drilled as duds and some of the Gahcho Kue kimberlites have virtually no magnetic signature. Ground gravity surveys measure relative density, which a kimberlite erupting through country rock could exhibit. The exploration strategy of De Beers is that of a minesweeper determined to make a shipping lane perfectly safe except that here the goal is to nail every single kimberlite within Kimberlite Alley. This development is very good news for Mountain Province and Camphor because not only has De Beers committed itself to a permitting cycle for a mining plan that will rapidly exploit the three main pipes, but it has launched into a new exploration cycle designed to take care of the ten years after. So rather than finding themselves stuck in the permitting trough while De Beers despairs of ever satisfying the anti-development lobby, Mountain Province and Camphor could keep themselves busy reporting on new kimberlites as they move through the exploration cycle, kimberlites that could go into production in 10 years with minimal capital costs and a permitting cycle that starts well before the other pipes are mined out. This development is good news for GGL because it gets rid of the myopic focus on the Doyle Lake sill and forces De Beers to hit the property very hard as a standalone mine development play that would certainly benefit from the adjacent infrastructure. It opens the possibility that something bigger and better than the sill will be found on the Doyle Lake property, which in turn will make it easier for GGL to finance exploration on its 100% owned moonshot plays in the Lac de Gras region. It is a positive development for Diamonds North, whose Victoria Island and Kugaaruk projects are standalone plays that have to generate their own hype, while the Kidme play piggybacks on Gahcho Kue market momentum and carries virtually no failure consequences. For Diamondex it is an opportunity to spice up the tedium of waiting for Lena West to yield drill targets; nobody will care if Diamondex finds nothing on the northeast extension of Kimberlite Alley onto the Kelsey property. The same goes for Majescor, whose flagship Portage play in the Otish region of Quebec needs another season of till sampling before it can boast decent drill targets. Kimberlite Alley is the perfect concept play because it doesn't really matter to any of the participants if it does not work out.
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