Hello Red. Regarding this gamble of yours, CMKX, I did some digging, as I was curious. I finally dug up a streetwire Will did last year. CMKX's web site has a non-working link to it on Raging Bull, where Will wire was to be. Its an aptly named site, and to my amazement, the CMKX thread has 155,000 posts on it! ragingbull.lycos.com
Their web site has an extreme funny car on it today, no bull! That guy looks efin crazy! casavantmining.com
Too bad about the 50% haircut today. You would get a better return giving your money to a charity; at least it's going to do some good. Best of luck Red on this one.
I thought Tahera was bad with a 400 mill shares out, but a billion!?? Screams scam to me.
LMBF
2003-10-21 12:28 ET - Street Wire
See Street Wire (C-SEI) Shane Resources Ltd
by Will Purcell
Rick Walker's troika of Saskatchewan diamond hunters, Shane Resources, United Carina Resources and Consolidated Pine Channel Gold have each picked up an option to earn a 10-per-cent stake in 82 claims that are scattered about the Fort a la Corne region of Saskatchewan, east of Prince Albert, from Urban Casavant's Casavant Mining Kimberlite International. Casavant's three new partners have been past participants in the Saskatchewan diamond hunt, and Mr. Casavant has long been involved with the pursuit of prairie gems as well. Casavant can also earn a 49-per-cent interest in the diamond claims held by its three new partners. Although much of the ground held by Casavant and its three partners are on the fringes of the Fort a la Corne region, some of it is in close proximity to the more active core region that is being worked by Shore Gold and the joint venture of Kensington Resources, De Beers Canada and Cameco.
The Saskatoon-based Mr. Walker, originally from Toronto, was involved with exploration in the early 1970s, conducting geophysical surveys as an employee of Aerodat, but moved on in 1974, becoming a stockbroker with Walwyn Stodgell. In 1979, he moved westward, setting up a Saskatoon office for that company. By the late 1980s Mr. Walker was working with Canarim Investment when his career took another turn, as he switched from selling stocks to promoting them, becoming the president of Shane.
Mr. Walker grew busier in early in 2001, when the head of United Carina and Pine Channel, Dale Hoffman, passed away. Mr. Walker had been a director of Mr. Hoffman's companies, and he took over the top job at both. His first task was to unravel a financial tangle the developed when Mr. Hoffman had transferred cash from the two public companies to his private businesses, in preparation for an exploration program, and it took over a year to sort things out with Mr. Hoffman's estate.
Mr. Walker, who first took Shane into the Saskatchewan diamond play in 1989, now says that he has been in and out of love with the Fort a la Corne play for more than a dozen years. "My heart is going pitter-patter these days," he added. Apparently lovestruck once again, Mr. Walker's three deals with Casavant Mining will require each of his three companies to spend $300,000 by the end of 2004.
The deal seems a good one for the Las Vegas-based Mr. Casavant, now far away from his Prince Albert roots. Mr. Walker said that Mr. Casavant had once been a prison guard in Prince Albert, and then became an entrepreneur, running the U-Haul business in the central Saskatchewan city. As diamonds had become big news in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mr. Casavant promptly took up prospecting, acquiring a large land position in the province.
Most of the ground was in the Molanosa arch region, but that was hot territory at the time, and Mr. Casavant's property was in demand. As a result, he sold much of his ground in a series of cash and stock deals during the height of the Saskatchewan frenzy in 1993.
The gem hunt cooled off in the latter half of the 1990s, but Mr. Casavant's interest in the Saskatchewan diamond play was renewed about three years ago, when Shore Gold and Kensington began to get new promotional mileage out of their revived exploration efforts in the Fort a la Corne region. The colourful Mr. Casavant again picked up a large land position that largely surrounds the main play, with some ground that is close to the key projects in the area as well.
Casavant Mining was created last year through the transformation of Cyber Mark International, and it has been quite colourful since it took up the pursuit of diamonds. The company is listed on the mighty pinks in the United States, and at last report there were billions of shares outstanding. As a result, the stock is a trader's dream, or nightmare, with a share price that has been lingering near one-100ths of a U.S. cent, but which occasionally has spiked upwards, offering the enticement of a quick triple, or better. Casavant Mining has been retiring billions of its outstanding shares of late -- more than 13 billion at last count -- but the company can also go the other way, splitting its stock on a 2-for-1 basis in September.
Late last year, a correction was issued after the header on a press release mistakenly referred to the company's financial public relations consultant, Howard Bronson, as Charles Bronson, initially leaving speculators wondering why the then 80-year-old movie star would be touting Saskatchewan gems. In another press release late last year, Casavant Mining trumpeted the opening of an office in Antwerp that was to promote the Casavant diamond brand and assist in the support of conflict-free diamonds. That seems a bit optimistic, as Casavant Mining Kimberlite has yet to commence mining and is still looking for its first kimberlite find on its new Fort a la Corne properties.
The company has found a number of Casavants to help out however. Mr. Casavant's wife, Carolyn Casavant, served as an interim executive vice-president until early this year, and last fall, the company found a corporate treasurer in Wesley Casavant, the couple's 22-year-old son who was working towards a commerce degree at the University of Saskatchewan. As well, the couple's daughter, Cindy Casavant, was appointed corporate secretary late last year.
All of that has left at least some investors rather skeptical of Casavant Mining's diamond hunt, but the head of Casavant's new diamond partners appears to be a believer in Mr. Casavant's diamond chances. "This guy can raise serious money when he puts his mind to it," said Mr. Walker. He knows whereof he speaks; about $900,000 of the cash that Casavant Mining will have available to spend on its diamond play will come from the coffers of Shane, United Carina and Pine Channel.
Finding the cash required to mount a serious exploration program on the Fort a la Corne project property was also not a great concern for Melvin O'Neil, a spokesman for Casavant Mining. "If we didn't have the money to do it, we would not be up here," he said. Just how much cash the company has is unknown, as a summer filing indicates that Casavant Mining terminated its registration, apparently because its shares are held by less than 300 individuals.
The available cash will apparently now be used for a drill program on parts of the Casavant property, although nobody is saying just where the holes will go. Mr. O'Neill said that they were trying for an Oct. 24 deadline to get things rolling, although Mr. Walker suggested mid-November as a more realistic target.
Mr. Walker said that much of the Casavant ground, which he refers to as the Surround project, was to the west, north and east of the core portions of the play. In fact, although much of the ground does appear to be on the fringes of the district, some of the Casavant claims are within 10 kilometres of Shore Gold's Star kimberlite and Kensington's No. 141 pipe, both to the west and east.
As well, some of the claims are within five kilometres to the west of Kensington's No. 150 and No. 122 pipes, which apparently remain priority pipes for the joint venture, and other claims appear to lie within the northwesterly trending lines of kimberlite finds in the region. As a result, a drill program on the Casavant ground could stir up some speculative notice, especially if Shore and Kensington can come up with toutable results from their key projects in the coming months.
There could well be a number of kimberlites awaiting discovery in the Fort a la Corne region. Earlier this year, Forest Gate Resources successfully drilled a target, finding its Dizzy kimberlite body just to the east of Star and No.141, placing it just a few kilometres from some of the Casavant ground. Finding an economic quantity of diamonds could be a much tougher task however, as the Dizzy find did not yield any diamonds, and most of the Fort a la Corne bodies have modest diamond contents at best.
Still, the mammoth sizes of many of the bodies can make even a modest grade of economic interest. Shore Gold is currently working on a 25,000-tonne mini-bulk test of its Star kimberlite. The sample is designed to come up with about 3,000 carats for valuation purposes, which would imply a grade of about 0.12 carat per tonne. That is well above the grade produced by the one large-diameter hole that was drilled into the region where the sample is being collected. That test produced 8.61 carats of diamonds large enough to be recovered by a 1.18-millimetre screen, from a theoretical mass of about 140 tonnes of kimberlite, which suggests a grade of a bit more than 0.06 carat per tonne.
Nevertheless, the chances seem reasonable that Shore can hit its target, as much of its sample will be collected at a depth below 200 metres. The grade of the one large hole appeared to increase with depth, and the average projected grade between 200 metres and 260 metres was about 0.12 carat per tonne, and possibly a bit more. If Shore does come up with a toutable haul, including some larger diamonds, and the subsequent valuations are suitably promotable, Mr. Walker's heart could beat faster still.
As well, the fortunes of the Fort a la Corne play will undoubtedly be influenced by the continuing flow of results from the Kensington joint venture's work at No. 141, a few kilometres to the north of Star. The partners have just released an update of the detailed predictions of value and grade from the 2002 mini-bulk sampling program, and up to 45 core holes are being poked into four kimberlites, No. 140/141, No. 150, No. 122 and No 148.
The first three bodies have been mini-bulk tested over the past few years, producing generally modest grades. The best of the results came from No. 141, with repeated sample grades in a range between 0.05 carat per tonne and about 0.09 carat per tonne. Last year, De Beers modelled the grade of the body at something between 0.05 carat per tonne and 0.12 carat per tonne, with the diamond value slotted anywhere between a dismal $20 (U.S.) per carat and an impressive $220 (U.S.) per carat.
The latest predictions place the predicted grades in a range between 0.05 and 0.15 carat per tonne, with the best guess at the diamond values between $67 (U.S.) per carat and $97 (U.S.) per carat, with the variations of both grade and value depending on the geological unit of kimberlite within the large pipe.
If the additional work continues to support the idea of possible higher-grade zones and an array of larger diamonds in parts of the pipe, it would give Mr. Walker and Mr. Casavant's diamond projects a helping hand, especially if it leads to another big mini-bulk test next year.
The four companies could all use some help with their promotions. Shane closed down two cents on Wednesday, at 11 cents, while United Carina shed four pennies when it last traded on Thursday, closing at 15 cents. Consolidated Pine Channel was unchanged on Friday, but dipped a penny on Monday, closing at four cents. With its billions of shares outstanding, Casavant Mining was much more active, gaining one-100th of a U.S. cent on Friday, to close at two-100ths of a U.S. cent, and it held onto the gain on Monday. |
