denotes parts of the page that are editable
YouTube Small-Cap Podcast iTunes
AGORACOM TV IS NOW ON DEMAND!
AGORACOM TV Is Available Anytime and Anywhere. Now, You Never Have To Miss It If Life Gets Too Busy @ 9:45 AM EST.
Watch Repeats on YouTube, Subscribe To Our RSS Feed On Our Very Own SmallCapPodcast Or Automatically Download OnTo Your iPod Via iTunes.
For Our Web 2.0 Super-Users, You Can Even Pick Up The Show By Following Us On Twitter.
If You Believe As We Do That We Are Entering The Buying Opportunity Of A Lifetime, Don't Miss An Episode Of AGORACOM TV !
| Could Peregrine's Chidliak diamond find be the next Ekati? By: Liezel Hill Published: 29th August 2008 Vancouver-based Peregrine Diamonds has been making waves in what has become a more-or-less stagnant pool of Canadian diamond explorers, with announcements that it has found not one, but two outcropping kimberlites at its Chidliak prospect, in Canada's Nunavut territory. The discovery, a good 700 km from the nearest known kimberlites, is being touted by the company, led by CEO Eric Friedland, as “an important new Canadian diamond district”, and independent analyst John Kaiser seems inclined to agree. In a note published this week on his Kaiser Bottom-Fish Online, he describes sample results from the first kimberlite, CH-1, and the discovery of a second outcrop as “extraordinary”, and speculates that there is a possibility that “we finally have a major new diamond play on our hands with world class potential similar to Ekati”. BHP Billiton's Ekati operation was Canada's first diamond mine, and produces about 3,5-million carats a year, or about 3% of world rough diamond supply by weight. Fittingly, BHP also has its fingers in the Chidliak pie, as it has a one-time option to buy 51% of the project when Peregrine has spent between $3-million and $10-million on the property, and an additional 7% if it funds a bankable feasibility study. At last count, Peregrine had spent about $2,2-million late in July, but BHP Billiton spokesperson Ruban Yogarajah declined to comment on if and when the mining giant planned to exercise the option. “We don't comment on projects that are at such an early stage,” he said, when asked if the company thought Chidliak had the potential to reach Ekati-like proportions. However, after Peregrine first announced a month ago that it had discovered a kimberlite on the property, the world's biggest mining group wasted little time in asking the smaller company to increase the size of its airborne geophysical survey by more than 30%, from the original 9 000 line kilometres to approximately 12 000 line kilometres. BHP will pay for the extensions itself. “BHP's eagerness to accelerate the program at its own cost should be interpreted as a very bullish sign,” commented Kaiser, who told Mining Weekly Online earlier this month that the market had “completely lost interest” in Canadian diamond explorers. In separate indication of good faith in the prospect, CEO Friedland said this week that he had bought an additional 2,43-million shares, or 3,5%, in Peregrine Diamonds, which brought his holding in the company to 21,3%. The news of his purchases, combined with the sample results earlier in the week, buoyed Peregrine's shares to a closing price of C$0,50 a share in Toronto on Thursday, a far cry from its 52-week low of C$0,17 apiece on July 23, just before the company announced the kimberlite discovery at Chidliak. Shares slipped back a little on Friday however, after the company announced it planned to raise C$3-million in a private placement, for exploration funding. The company's stock fell 16%, to C$0,42 apiece by 15:59 in Toronto. 'REASON TO BE VERY HOPEFUL' After identifying the CH-1 kimberlite in July, Peregrine sent representative surface samples from two CH-1 kimberlite units for processing for diamonds by caustic fusion at the Saskatchewan Research Council Geoanalytical Laboratories (SRC). Sample 1B weighed 94,9 kg and returned 146 diamonds larger than the 0,075 mm sieve size, including 10 diamonds larger than the 0,600 mm sieve size, while sample 1A weighed 100 kg and returned 44 diamonds larger than the 0,075 mm sieve size including two diamonds larger than the 0,600 mm sieve size. The coarse distribution from of diamonds from sample 1B suggests a macro grade in the range of 50 ct/100 t to 100 ct/100 t, estimates Kaiser. Further, the fact that sample 1B included six diamonds bigger than 0,85 mm, including two that were caught by the 1,7 mm sieve, “gives us reason to be very hopeful” about future results, he comments. Peregrine has already collected an additional 1 000 kg from CH-1 and submitted it to SRC for micro diamond processing. If these results confirm or improve the initial results, Kaiser expects that CH-1 will “very likely” advance to the mini bulk sampling stage. The company has also sent a 300-kg sample from the second pipe, CH-2, for processing. The new pipe is estimated to be about three hectares in size, while CH-1 is estimated at six hectares. IN GOOD COMPANY Canada's diamond mining industry was born when the Ekati mine opened in the Northwest Territories in 1998, followed by the Diavik operation, owned by Rio Tinto and Aber Diamonds (now Harry Winston), in 2003. A third mine, Jericho, started production in the Nunavut territory in 2006, but was placed on care and maintenance this year after its owner, Tahera Diamonds, ran into funding trouble. Most recently, diamond giant De Beers opened its first mines outside Africa - the Snap Lake mine, located 220 km north-east of Yellowknife, in Canada's Northwest Territories and the Victor mine, in Ontario. The most advanced project next in line is probably the Gahcho Kue project, co-owned by De Beers and Toronto-based Mountain Province Diamonds. |
| First message | No more messages |
1 member recommends this.
Like Peregrine Diamonds Ltd.? Then you might also be interested in Yankee Hat Minerals Ltd.
