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Iciena Ventures Inc
Symbol IIE
Shares Issued 5,387,763
Close (2002-08-08) 0.31
Iciena hunts Manitoba diamonds
2002-08-12 09:06 PT - Street Wire
by Will Purcell
Greg Fedun's Iciena Ventures Inc. has picked up a new diamond project, but promotional success for the 16,000-hectare property in the southeastern region of Manitoba may be elusive. There had been a bit of interest in the region in the early 1990s, although little work was actually completed. Nevertheless, there have been a few bits of encouragement that suggest that there is some chance that diamonds might be found in the region to the west of Lake of the Woods, and the area did attract some believers along the way.
Other than suggesting that their new property is near Winnipeg, Mr. Fedun and Iciena remain mum about the exact location of their new diamond project, as the company is still pondering the acquisition of additional ground in the region. This makes promotion difficult. Nevertheless, it seems likely that the company's new play is to the east of Winnipeg, towards the Lake of the Woods, an area that was at the heart of the earlier diamond play that never quite got off the ground.
Kimberlite indicator minerals have been found in scattered areas across the Prairies, and it was their presence that seemed to get the Manitoba play started. A 1993 study found concentrations in the southwestern and central regions of Saskatchewan, as well as the west-central and southern parts of Manitoba. The indicator minerals included about 200 pyrope garnets, including 12 that were classified as G-10 garnets. Several of those G-10 garnets were scattered across Southern Saskatchewan, but the largest concentration was in the south of Manitoba, where five of the garnets were found.
That would seem to be at least mildly encouraging, although there is some suggestion that the minerals may have been transported some distance from their source region. The presence of indicator minerals with some promise did manage to attract attention to the region in the early 1990s. No kimberlites were discovered, but there was very little work actually completed, and that would suggest that Iciena is likely not picking over an old play.
One of the believers in Manitoba diamonds was Jiri Strnad, who is based in Saskatoon and is now more commonly known as George. Mr. Strnad, a research geologist and diamond hunter active in Russia, Europe, Asia and South America, is one of those credited with the 1980s discovery of the Fort a la Corne kimberlite field just east of Prince Albert, in Saskatchewan. After that, his interest in Prairie gems seems to have spread eastward. Some of Mr. Strnad's interest was directed at the Snow Lake region in the northern part of the province, but he frequently made an appearance with a number of junior explorers poking around in Southern Manitoba as well.
In the spring of 1993, Winslow Gold Corporation acquired about 4,000 hectares of ground in Manitoba, about 140 kilometres to the southeast of Winnipeg in the extreme southeastern corner of the province, as part of a joint venture with Surf Oil Co. and Northwind Ventures Ltd. The land position quickly grew to more than 17,000 hectares, and the partners did manage to mount a bit of exploration on the ground, helped along by Mr. Strnad, who served as a consultant to the three partners. The partners touted the identification of more than a dozen geophysical anomalies with surface areas between four and 30 hectares, which they believed might be kimberlites. Additional work was competed on the ground during the summers of 1993 and 1994, but nothing was heard of any of the promised drill programs, and the project faded from memory.
Late in 1993, two of Dalton DuPasquier's companies, Consolidated Newgate Resources Ltd. and Prior Resources Ltd. picked up ground near Lake of the Woods in Northwestern Ontario, about 25 kilometres east of Manitoba border, which they hoped to turn into a diamond play. Their hopes were bolstered by the presence of kimberlite indicator minerals and the identification of more than 20 features that they hoped were kimberlite pipes. The features were identified using photo reconnaissance, but that was enough to attract a partner. Chris Jennings's SouthernEra Resources Ltd. was rarely one to turn down a new diamond play, and the company decided to take a crack at the Falcon Island project. At least one hole is believed to have been drilled, but once again, little more was heard of the project.
All that helped attract attention to the region however. Early in 1994, Lucky Break Gold Inc. and Peter Gummer's Rhonda Mining Corporation applied for about 250,000 hectares of ground in the southeastern portion of Manitoba. The ground was touted as a diamond play, but the partners also reeled off several base and precious metals that they believed might be lurking on their property. Diamonds seemed clearly to be the focus however, as Mr. Strnad popped up once more, this time as an advisor to Lucky Break. Meanwhile, Mr. Gummer was certainly not done. Rhonda applied for a further one million hectares in the region through a deal with Mill City Gold Mining. The large land parcel extended from Winnipeg, eastward to the Ontario border, but yet again, nothing more was heard of the land grab.
Agate Bay Resources Ltd. tried its hand to the west of Winnipeg. Early in 1994, the company picked up ground along the Manitoba escarpment to the west of Lake Dauphin, from Swan Lake to Lake Manitoba. The claims were acquired based on some geophysical anomalies that had kimberlitic characteristics, although the presence of some promising indicator minerals apparently helped matters along. As with the other projects in Southern Manitoba, things fell dormant not long after the property had been acquired, and nothing more was heard of the play. Mr. Strnad was also involved when Golden Marlin Resources Ltd. also picked up some ground in the area, however that project suffered a similar fate as well.
Late in 1994, Leader Mining International Inc. picked up ground in the southeast corridor area of Manitoba that had been overlooked by other explorers. As with the other diamond hunters, the company placed its hopes that the kimberlite indicator minerals pointed to a local source for diamonds, and Mr. Strnad is believed to have played a role with this project as well, by interpreting the geophysical signatures of a number of potential targets for the company.
After the 1994 rush, the Southern Manitoba diamond play quickly faded away. Interest in the Snow Lake region faded as well, but the late 1990s saw frantic activity in the northeastern portion of the province, as a few majors and several juniors scooped up large tracts of land. That play caught the market's attention briefly last year, but it seems to be fading away as well. As a result, it will likely take a kimberlite discovery for any Manitoba project to actually create much of a stir for Iciena.
The move to diamonds is a new one for the struggling Iciena, which went through a change of control early this year. Mr. Fedun took over as president in March, but he has had no real past involvement in the diamond in the diamond hunt. Instead, it was the addition of John Buckle to the board of Iciena just a few weeks later that gave the signal that the company would take up the pursuit of gems.
Mr. Buckle is a geophysicist who has been active in the Canadian diamond hunt since its early days. A 1980 graduate from York University, he was involved with the first kimberlite discovery in Canada's North, the Point Lake pipe discovered in 1991 by Dia Met Minerals Ltd. Point Lake ultimately failed to make the grade, but Chuck Fipke's Dia Met went on to make several economic discoveries in the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories. Meanwhile, Mr. Buckle seemed to take his hunt to more obscure regions of Canada. In 1994, Patrick Power's Montello Resources hired him as a consultant, and he was added to the company's board the following year. Montello had been poking around Saskatchewan, and it had just expanded its diamond hunt into Alberta, in the region around Hinton. Mr. Buckle remained on the company's board for a few years, and during that time, Montello remained very active in the Alberta hunt, expanding it to the Buffalo Hills region of the province, where Ashton Mining of Canada Ltd. discovered several diamondiferous kimberlites.
The 50-year-old Mr. Buckle continued working as a consultant, and he popped up again in the spring of 2001, when he was added to the board of Oasis Diamond Exploration in a reorganization of that company. After that move, Oasis wasted little time in making the move to diamonds, picking up some ground in the God's Lake region of Northern Manitoba, roughly 500 kilometres to the north of Iciena's new play.
When that failed to generate much excitement, Mr. Buckle and Oasis tried something new, picking up some ground in the Wawa region of Northern Ontario. The Wawa play had been around since the mid-1990s, when prospectors recovered diamonds from a bedrock source. Since then, a number of companies have built promotions on the presence of large numbers of microdiamonds in small samples. There certainly have been some larger diamonds recovered as well, but all of the mini-bulk tests to date have produced macrodiamond grades of less than 0.05 carat per tonne. Nevertheless, the interest of Kennecott Canada and De Beers has been enough to sustain interest in the region, and Oasis grabbed some ground in the district. Since then, the company has added a few partners to its Wawa play. That group includes Iciena, which signed a deal to earn a share of the play just days before Mr. Buckle was added to Iciena's board. Since then, Oasis and Iciena have also agreed to take their hunt to the Otish Mountains region of Quebec.
In addition to the Manitoba projects, Mr. Buckle's interest in Saskatchewan has apparently returned as well. Iciena has picked up some ground in the Fort a la Corne region that contains two geophysical targets that could be kimberlites. As well, Mr. Buckle and Mr. Fipke apparently have a new project in common in Brazil.
The switch to diamonds has been a good one for Iciena's shareholders. At the end of 2001, Iciena had about $175,000 more liabilities than assets, and the company's stock was trading as low as three cents. Shareholders approved a share consolidation and change of name late last year, and that could still be in the works, but the company's shares responded well to the change of control and the switch to diamonds. Iciena's shares hit a peak of 70 cents in mid-March, before falling back to the 45-cent range. The surge should help the company solve its cash woes. Iciena is working on the sale of four million units at 35 cents each, which would add about $1.4-million to its coffers. Despite the recent flurry of activity, the stock has been in a bit of a slump of late, closing unchanged Friday, at 31 cents. |
