Thanks for your thoughts, Trev. Here is a link to that whole article in the FP:
canoe1.canoe.ca
And quite honestly, I would not expect Burne of DeBeers to say anything in support of the find at this stage, would you?
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My comments in general to all--
In terms of short term upward movement, as FrankF. says, we need to look for something that this skeptical market can sink its teeth into. That would mean some counts that are relatively high. Keep in mind that "high" for Alberta could still be comparably low for say, the NWT (eg, Aber or WSP, MPV, etc), since extraction costs and all logistics are somethng like 5 times more accommodating in Alberta (you get my point).
Now, what are high counts in AB? It would be feasible to have a profitable mine here with cpht counts below 30, if we had the value and the tonnage. We likely have the tonnage
(the anomalies/ deposits are immense! -see here for a discussion of tonnage: Message 3708361 ).
We just need to establish grade and especially value. At costs in AB of less than $15/tonne to mine, anything above that gets into the money. I would not be surprised to see eventual diamond valuations in AB at $80-$100/ct (very premature, wild guess).
--Rumours are out there that gem quality has been around 70-75%, expected to yield a final GQ at 60-65% (see: Message 4038243 ).
-Any idea what those figures could mean for per carat valuation in the end?
-My guess is in the $140/ct ballpark, but I don't know.--
So,
If we see a reported cpht over the 40 mark from K-91, this is exceptional and quite good news, imo. Also, larger diamonds are necessary in raising the deposit value, as they yield increasingly higher prices, so reports of a couple good-sized diamonds in Monday's? NR will help firm up the prospects.
- Here are some stats to compare to, re. value/tonne:
Message 2778072
Let's review a bit. We have seen good, varying counts so far, from preliminary drilling (we are still v.early in the explo process)
- Here's a qwik rough update for ACA til now:
ww.techstocks.com
This means grades will likely only increase.
Some comments made back when K-14's 36cpht grade was reported (from an expert):
To compare a new pipe with established pipes requires a mining "reserve" calculation on the new pipe. Ashton hasn't even calculated a mining "resource" grade yet. So there are two important steps to go. Each step involves a stricter cut-off standard whereby tonnes are dropped to optimize the economics of the orebody. This invariably increases grade. A reasonable rule of thumb is to take the early estimates and cut half the tonnes, that is, exclude the lowest grades.
Going back to the Ashton news release [K-14 minibulk], exclude the pit samples and take the weighted average of the best three and best four holes, then take the average of the two results. This will yield a post-mining reserve cutoff grade of about 0.66cpt. Just a speculative guess so far but I suspect it will prove to be on the low side since the sampling factors during the early stage of diamond exploration tend to skew results strongly to the conservative side."
- - -
Further, we've heard of coloured stones, especially a .76ct (6.8mm across) fancy canary... are there more in the area? I think so!
(see: Message 4929030 )
We have lots to learn, but from what has been revealed by Ashton so far, which I believe has been as little as they can release without exposing their secrets to De Beers etc, there is secure reason to believe in the potential of this discovery. Confirmatory measures continue!
All the best,
-j
:>
**Please note this is just my own ramblings and should not be taken as that of an expert, at all!
Risk only what you are comfortable with losing in any speculative stock. |
