Sam, Here is something of interest:
According to the DeBeers section of the Anglo American prospectus, all of their mines, young and old alike, excepting a few small mines and interests like Marsfontein, are good for another 10 to 20 years and have productive life spans and reserves beyond......expansion programs underway at deposits like Orapa, and existing under utilized productive capacity, will fill any global shortfall on the supply side for decades to come(the economics of developing a new deposit can never compete with the cost of increasing productive capacity at an existing mine). Reading between the lines, IMO, there will only be room for developing new mines if the deposit is outstanding in terms of size distribution and quality of diamond, followed by grade and tonnage. It appears that DeBeers will be aggressively increasing its share of annual world diamond production over the next decade, and most of that increase will be Africa based. The point I am coming to is that, Winspear's Snap Lake deposit, appears to have all the requirements to be an outstanding deposit, head and shoulders above anything else in the Territories. IMO, and subject to bulk sample results, Snap Lake is shaping up to be a deposit that DeBeers cannot let be owned and operated by another senior mining house vying to become a significant player in the diamond market....
regards, teevee
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