Related to ACA,...both articles worth a close read because the results so far in this great new North Slave play are so far worse than what MPV has at Gahcho Kue project at Kennady Lake which is borderline in economics thanks to the lack of infrastructure in the far north,...down to freebies now,...hopeful but I've been squished too many times before (gggggggg)
Navigator looks for northern ice
Navigator Exploration Corp NVR
Shares issued 22,339,456 Dec 10 close $0.35
Mon 10 Dec 2001 Street Wire
Also Strongbow Resources Inc (SR)
Also Stornoway Ventures Ltd (SWV)
by Will Purcell
The North Slave diamond play got a bit hotter last week, as three more
junior explorers hopped onto the bandwagon. The latest arrivals include
companies controlled by Grenville Thomas and his daughter, Eira Thomas, who
played a prominent role in the diamond hunt in the Lac de Gras area several
years ago. The two were instrumental in the development of Aber Diamond
Corporation, as well as the discovery of the Diavik kimberlites, and they
undoubtedly hope to repeat their success with the Nunavut play, which is
located about 150 kilometres to the northwest of Lac de Gras. That could be
a formidable challenge however.
Speculative interest in the area began to grow last year as the result of
the discovery of the large and heavily promoted Knife pipe, discovered by
De Beers on ground owned by Rhonda Corporation. Speculators drove Rhonda
shares to a high of $1.35 late last year, but the diamond counts did not
meet expectations, with just nine macrodiamonds recovered from nearly 400
kilograms of kimberlite and the stock came tumbling back to earth.
Nevertheless, De Beers elected to go back and do more drilling this year.
The company extracted about nine tonnes of kimberlite and is recovering
macrodiamonds from most of that rock, but results are not yet available.
Two other explorers, now in the spotlight, have produced better results.
Ashton Mining of Canada has made two promising finds this year. The
Potentilla kimberlite yielded 175 diamonds from 129 kilograms of diatreme
kimberlite, and 15 of those were macros. Seven of those were longer than
0.5 millimetre in two dimensions, and three stones were longer than one
millimetre. The largest diamond was just a bit longer than two millimetres.
That result was trumped by Ashton's Artemisia kimberlite, which produced
380 diamonds from just 103 kilograms of kimberlite. A total of 38 diamonds
were macro-sized stones, while 13 exceeded 0.5 millimetre in two
dimensions. Two diamonds were longer than one millimetre.
Ashton's results brought a surge of speculative interest to the stock and
the area, but it was another explorer that came up with the best result of
the year. Kennecott Canada and Tahera Corporation discovered the Anuri
kimberlite this year, and the two companies recovered 937 diamonds from 656
kilograms of kimberlite. That haul included 337 macrodiamonds, including 61
that exceeded 0.5 millimetre in two dimensions. As well, there were nine
diamonds that were large enough not to fall through a one-millimetre
screen. The biggest news was that one of those diamonds weighed a whopping
0.75 carat, which was a promising find in such a small sample.
The nearby Anuri East kimberlite also provided encouragement. A sample of
just 78 kilograms contained 68 diamonds, including 18 macros. Just two of
those macros were large enough to remain on a 0.5-millimetre mesh, but one
of them exceeded one millimetre in length in two dimensions, providing hope
that Anuri East might contain some larger diamonds as well.
With several kimberlites producing diamond counts that were at least
exciting if not great, the North Slave region was suddenly touted as the
second coming of Lac de Gras. As a result, it was not surprising that the
play would attract some of the explorers that hit it big in the 1990s,
including Mr. Thomas and his daughter.
Mr. Thomas had been president and chief executive officer of Aber until
1996, when Ken Hanna replaced him. At the time it seemed that Mr. Thomas
was easing himself into retirement. He was rumoured to have more interest
in Irish gold than in Arctic ice, and he soon popped up as a member of the
board of the fledgling Navigator Exploration Corporation, along with
another Aber director, Bob Gannicott.
Meanwhile, Ms. Thomas was just 25 and three years out of university in
1994, when her crew turned up the first three of the four Diavik kimberlite
pipes. Ms. Thomas was vice-president of exploration for Aber for a time and
remains a director, but she began looking elsewhere when Aber abandoned its
exploration past. As a result, she took over as president of Navigator from
Ray Cahill early last year, joining her two Aber colleagues.
Navigator had started out primarily as a gold hunter in Ireland, but the
focus seemed to gradually switch to diamonds as the company's boardroom
took on a distinctive Aber flavour. Early last year, the company became
active in the hunt for diamonds in Ontario, and its roster of properties
got a big boost a bit later when Aber suddenly sloughed off most of its
secondary properties, offering them to Navigator for next to nothing. Those
properties have not produced much in the way of excitement for Navigator or
its shareholders, but diamonds are likely to remain the top priority for
Navigator, thanks to the acquisition of a new property in southern Nunavut.
Last week, Navigator struck a deal with a private company owned by Lawrence
Barry that would allow Navigator to earn a 70-per-cent share of the Bear
property. It has been a busy stretch for Mr. Barry, as he has optioned a
number of properties in the area in recent days.
The property has a good address. The Bear claims are located just east of
the Kikerk Lake property that is being explored by Ashton Mining of Canada,
which hosts the Potentilla kimberlite, located about 10 kilometres to the
northwest, while the Artemisia kimberlite is about 20 kilometres to the
northwest of Bear. In addition, Ashton also made one discovery last year,
and the marginally diamondiferous Perseus body is just to the west of the
Bear property. The large Knife Lake kimberlite lies about 20 kilometres to
the west of Bear as well.
The new Navigator property is also fairly close to the recent discoveries
made by Kennecott Canada and Tahera Corporation. The Amaruq sill is just a
few kilometres away, while the far more prospective Anuri and Anuri East
kimberlites are located about 50 kilometres to the south of Bear. Two years
ago, Kennecott and Tahera made their first discovery in the area, although
the Altair body, which is located about 30 kilometres to the southwest of
Bear, never amounted to much. The two explorers also had some success to
the east of the new Navigator property, discovering the Tenacity kimberlite
last year, roughly 75 kilometres to the east of Bear.
While Navigator was striking its deal with Mr. Barry, Don McLeod's
Stornoway Ventures was acquiring a number of properties in the region as
well. Prior to making its move into the diamond play, Stornoway added Ms.
Thomas to its board of directors, and she promptly bought one million
Stornoway shares at a currently cheap 10-cent price.
Stornoway's first acquisition in the area came late last month, with an
option deal on the 160,000-hectare Coronation property, which was also
owned by Mr. Barry's private company.
Last week, Stornoway landed three additional properties, close to the
centre of the play. Two of those properties came in a curious deal struck
with International Samuel Exploration, Dasher Energy and Cantech Ventures.
Together, the three companies owned 100 per cent of the Sceptre and Tiara
properties, and the partners agreed to grant Stornoway the right to earn a
60-per-cent share of the two blocks.
Sceptre is the larger of the two, located just to the west of Rhonda's
Inulik property, and just to the southwest of Ashton's Kim claims. That
places Sceptre about 25 kilometres to the southwest of Artemisia, and about
30 kilometres to the southwest of the Potentilla kimberlite. Rhonda's Knife
pipe is about 15 kilometres to the southeast, and Tahera's Anuri kimberlite
is about 50 kilometres to the southeast.
Tiara, the smaller of the two properties, is located about 25 kilometres to
the east. The Knife, Artemisia and Potentilla kimberlites are within 15
kilometres of Tiara, and several other kimberlites are in close proximity.
Years ago, De Beers discovered a kimberlite, dubbed Kikerk-2, which is just
a few kilometres to the southwest of Tiara. As well, Tahera's Amaruq sill
is just a few kilometres to the south of the new Stornoway property, while
the Anuri kimberlites lie about 50 kilometres to the south, and Tenacity is
80 kilometres to the east.
The deal for the two properties requires Stornoway to spend up to
$5.5-million by the end of 2006 in order to earn the entire interest, and
the arrangement also includes the usual share payment by Stornoway. In an
unusual twist, International Samuel, Dasher and Cantech agreed to issue
shares to Stornoway for each kimberlite that its exploration program turns
up. In all, each discovery would see Stornoway receive a total of 80,000
shares from the three companies.
Although Stornoway seems to think highly of the two properties, that
opinion may not be unanimous. Stu Blusson's Archon Minerals held an option
to earn a 3-per-cent royalty in the properties by spending $300,000 on an
airborne geophysical program, and on indicator mineral sampling. Little
more was heard of the deal, which lapsed in late October.
That was not all for Stornoway. Later in the week, the company popped up
again, acquiring an option to earn a 70-per-cent share of the Orb property
from a Yellowknife-based private company, 4763 NWT Ltd. The new block is
located to the northeast of Ashton's Kikerk Lake property and to the north
of Bear. That places the Orb property about 15 kilometres to the northeast
of Potentilla and about 20 kilometres northeast of Artemisia. The Anuri
kimberlites are about 80 kilometres to the south, and Tenacity lies 80
kilometres to the southeast.
While Ms. Thomas and her fellow Stornoway directors were busy acquiring
ground in the area independently of her father, Mr. Thomas was busy as
well, as his Strongbow Resources did a deal, also with 4763 NWT, for a
property in the area. The VT block is located to the southeast of the Orb
property, about 20 kilometres to the east of Potentilla and about 30
kilometres to the east of Artemisia, while Anuri is about 70 kilometres to
the south and Tenacity lies 70 kilometres to the southeast.
Although Ms. Thomas is not directly involved with Strongbow, she does have
an indirect interest in the play, as Strongbow's largest shareholder is her
Navigator Exploration, holding just less than half of the outstanding
shares of the company. Until last year, Strongbow had been known as
Nickelodeon Minerals, when it acquired Navigator's share of two properties
in Ireland in a stock deal. Prior to the move, Nickelodeon and Navigator
had shared the properties, and although the sale gave control of the
properties to Nickelodeon, The two Thomases effectively controlled
Nickelodeon through Navigator.
Another old explorer has taken the plunge into the new northern play. Tyler
Resources, which never had much luck through the years in the Lac de Gras
region, has joined with Northern Abitibi in acquiring a 45,000-hectare
property in the region, also from 4763 NWT Ltd. The new ground is located
just east of Ashton's Ric claims and Perseus, and about 30 kilometres to
the southeast of Potentilla and Artemisia, while the Anuri pipes are just
50 kilometres to the southwest.
None of the new properties have been extensively explored through the
years. That seems largely due to the lack of good news from the area,
despite the efforts of Ashton, Tahera and Kennecott, which have been
plugging away in the area for several years with little to show for it
until recently.
The discoveries now seem to be coming at a good clip, and that could
continue into next year as well. There are many unexplained mineral trains
and geophysical anomalies to be examined on the Ashton and Tahera
properties, and the chances seem good that there will be an abundance of
indicator mineral trains and drill targets on the recently acquired
properties as well. As a result, finding kimberlites might not be a
difficult task, although actually coming up with an economic diamond
deposit is another matter entirely.
Speculative interest has carried Ashton shares from a low of 49 cents in
September to a high of $2.13 last week. Meanwhile, interest in the
Thomas-controlled companies certainly seems to be on the rise as well.
Navigator shares have climbed from a 15-cent low in November to close
Friday at 35 cents, while Stornoway shares surged from 10 cents in
mid-November to a high of 71 cents last week. Even the weak sister,
Strongbow, mounted a rally, jumping from two cents to a 12-cent close last
week. Strangely, investors seem to be shunning Tahera and its Anuri pipes,
which are arguably the best of the lot. Tahera shares have dropped from 20
cents in June to just 14 cents last week.
(c) Copyright 2001 Canjex Publishing Ltd. stockwatch.com
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.
(c) Copyright 2001 Canjex Publishing Ltd. stockwatch.com |
