Post by bluediamonds on Jun 21, 2004 16:05:27 GMT -5
De Beers Makes Fort a la Corne #1 and CMKX has 1-1.9+ million acres surrounding this De Beers' claim of 58,000 acres in this area -- see the map at casavantmining.com/images/17x11_Oct03.pdf !
Furthermore, CMKX also uses the newer technology that can locate non-magnetic kimberlite, which some say is the reason De Beers missed all this prime land which CMKX now controls (hear JOEL on MP3 at cmkx.istwara.com ).
The diamonds (and gold, platinum, etc., etc.) are coming.
FWIW & IMO.
News Story
Date: March 28, 2002
Saskatchewan Diamonds Now Top Of De Beers' Priority List[/color]
One of the most interesting facts to be gleaned from all the chit-chat of the recent PDAC in Toronto is that De Beers seems to have changed its corporate mind about the batting order . of its diamond projects in Canada. The Snap Lake Diamond project in the Northwest Territories, which it acquired over a year ago after a battle with Winspear, has been put on the back burner and 2010 has been pencilled in as the year when it might be considered again. Apparently the kimberlite deposit has much in common with South African gold deposits in that it is thin and dips shallowly which complicates the mining. Johan Ferreira, the De Beers expert on picking out economic mines by computer modelling, apparently told some people in Toronto that if he had had to make a judgement at the time the Winspear acquisition would not have gone ahead. The decision, however, was made by the De Beers' Canadian arm.
Problems have also been defined with the Victor pipe in Ontario which is much more complex than first thought. Again the problem seems to centre on how best it could be mined. The joint venture at Mountain Province has also slipped down the list of priorities as De Beers still has no confidence in the grade or the sequence of large stones which can have such an impact on overall value. Sampling will continue until Ferreira is quite sure that it could prove economic.
The result of all this is that the joint venture with Kensington Resources at the Fort a la Corne project in Saskatchewan has come to the top of the list. [/color]Fort a la Corne and the nearby Star Kimberlite, which is owned 100 per cent by Shore Gold, have long been pooh-poohed by Canadian investors who have clung to the belief that the diamonds in Saskatchewan are too small and the grades too low for economic mines. Minews has always been attracted to these two plays on the simple grounds that the deposits are huge and the costs of operating in Saskatchewan are minute when compared with the Arctic as infra-structure is close by.
One of the people who spoke for a long time with Ferreira and others in the De Beers team was John Kaiser who publishes the very erudite Kaiser Express Report. He now reckons that the Fort a la Corne project is world class and is looking forward to the next results from the sampling programme. So far around C$22 million has been spent on exploration and the relationship between Kensington and De Beers, each of which have a 42.5 per cent interest in the project, has improved in recent months. This programme focussed on two kimberlite pipes Nos 141 and 150 and it gives some idea of the overall size of the project when it is appreciated that sixty nine kimberlites have been identified on the property of which no less than forty nine are diamondiferous.
The news the market is waiting for should detail the grades as modelled by Johan Ferreira and after that will come the modelled values. He has built his statistical model for the size and frequency of diamond populations on the back of the vast database that De Beers has built using not only its own mines , but all those whose production it purchases, and his reputation is second to none. It is now very much on the line in Canada, as is that of John Kaiser who has forecast that "the stock could become the new Canadian diamond star."
If this proves to be the case Shore Gold will have to be a major beneficiary. Its Star kimberlite is just south of Fort a la Corne and it is big. In January last year a drillhole intersected over 539 metres of kimberlite, the thickest continuous intersection ever drilled in a vertical hole in North America. It is now awaiting the results of a 90 tonne bulk sample, half of which has been sent to the De Beers GSPS facility in Johannesburg and the balance to the Lakefield plant in Ontario. Different recovery methods are being used in the two laboratories and for some reason De Beers will not give its results until Lakefield has given theirs.
An interesting play is now developing. If De Beers wants control of Fort a la Corne it will have a fight on its hands. Shareholders in Kensington Resources have a pretty accurate idea of what it is worth and will not be giving it away. The board has also shrewdly co-opted WWW International Diamond Consultants as an adviser. This firm , which is valuer of diamonds to the Canadian Government, is made up of ex-De Beers executives who know every move in the diamond giants book. And if De Beers makes a move on Kensington it would make sense to grab Shore Gold as well. Its exploration is at an earlier stage so its market capitalisation is considerably lower. It is make-your-mind-up time as it would be highly embarrassing for De Beers to find one of its major rivals with an operation right next door.
www.minesite.com/archives/news_archive/2002/mar-2002/sask_diamonds280302.htm
Furthermore, CMKX also uses the newer technology that can locate non-magnetic kimberlite, which some say is the reason De Beers missed all this prime land which CMKX now controls (hear JOEL on MP3 at cmkx.istwara.com ).
The diamonds (and gold, platinum, etc., etc.) are coming.
FWIW & IMO.
News Story
Date: March 28, 2002
Saskatchewan Diamonds Now Top Of De Beers' Priority List[/color]
One of the most interesting facts to be gleaned from all the chit-chat of the recent PDAC in Toronto is that De Beers seems to have changed its corporate mind about the batting order . of its diamond projects in Canada. The Snap Lake Diamond project in the Northwest Territories, which it acquired over a year ago after a battle with Winspear, has been put on the back burner and 2010 has been pencilled in as the year when it might be considered again. Apparently the kimberlite deposit has much in common with South African gold deposits in that it is thin and dips shallowly which complicates the mining. Johan Ferreira, the De Beers expert on picking out economic mines by computer modelling, apparently told some people in Toronto that if he had had to make a judgement at the time the Winspear acquisition would not have gone ahead. The decision, however, was made by the De Beers' Canadian arm.
Problems have also been defined with the Victor pipe in Ontario which is much more complex than first thought. Again the problem seems to centre on how best it could be mined. The joint venture at Mountain Province has also slipped down the list of priorities as De Beers still has no confidence in the grade or the sequence of large stones which can have such an impact on overall value. Sampling will continue until Ferreira is quite sure that it could prove economic.
The result of all this is that the joint venture with Kensington Resources at the Fort a la Corne project in Saskatchewan has come to the top of the list. [/color]Fort a la Corne and the nearby Star Kimberlite, which is owned 100 per cent by Shore Gold, have long been pooh-poohed by Canadian investors who have clung to the belief that the diamonds in Saskatchewan are too small and the grades too low for economic mines. Minews has always been attracted to these two plays on the simple grounds that the deposits are huge and the costs of operating in Saskatchewan are minute when compared with the Arctic as infra-structure is close by.
One of the people who spoke for a long time with Ferreira and others in the De Beers team was John Kaiser who publishes the very erudite Kaiser Express Report. He now reckons that the Fort a la Corne project is world class and is looking forward to the next results from the sampling programme. So far around C$22 million has been spent on exploration and the relationship between Kensington and De Beers, each of which have a 42.5 per cent interest in the project, has improved in recent months. This programme focussed on two kimberlite pipes Nos 141 and 150 and it gives some idea of the overall size of the project when it is appreciated that sixty nine kimberlites have been identified on the property of which no less than forty nine are diamondiferous.
The news the market is waiting for should detail the grades as modelled by Johan Ferreira and after that will come the modelled values. He has built his statistical model for the size and frequency of diamond populations on the back of the vast database that De Beers has built using not only its own mines , but all those whose production it purchases, and his reputation is second to none. It is now very much on the line in Canada, as is that of John Kaiser who has forecast that "the stock could become the new Canadian diamond star."
If this proves to be the case Shore Gold will have to be a major beneficiary. Its Star kimberlite is just south of Fort a la Corne and it is big. In January last year a drillhole intersected over 539 metres of kimberlite, the thickest continuous intersection ever drilled in a vertical hole in North America. It is now awaiting the results of a 90 tonne bulk sample, half of which has been sent to the De Beers GSPS facility in Johannesburg and the balance to the Lakefield plant in Ontario. Different recovery methods are being used in the two laboratories and for some reason De Beers will not give its results until Lakefield has given theirs.
An interesting play is now developing. If De Beers wants control of Fort a la Corne it will have a fight on its hands. Shareholders in Kensington Resources have a pretty accurate idea of what it is worth and will not be giving it away. The board has also shrewdly co-opted WWW International Diamond Consultants as an adviser. This firm , which is valuer of diamonds to the Canadian Government, is made up of ex-De Beers executives who know every move in the diamond giants book. And if De Beers makes a move on Kensington it would make sense to grab Shore Gold as well. Its exploration is at an earlier stage so its market capitalisation is considerably lower. It is make-your-mind-up time as it would be highly embarrassing for De Beers to find one of its major rivals with an operation right next door.
www.minesite.com/archives/news_archive/2002/mar-2002/sask_diamonds280302.htm