KIM Report

Newsworthy Week For Canadian Diamond Companies

Posted by David

It has been an exciting week thus far for the Canadian diamond industry. A few major news releases from junior Canadian diamond exploration companies has shown that the industry is climbing out of its stagnation from the past couple of years.

A New Mine for Nunavut, Again

A curious development in the Canadian diamond scene occurred with Shear Minerals‘ announcement that they were purchasing 100% of the Jericho diamond mine in Nunavut. Shear will purchase the mine for $2,000,000 and 80,000,000 common shares. The bulk of this will be paid to the main creditor of Jericho’s bankrupt owner (Tahera Diamonds). The main creditor is CAZ Petroleum Ltd. Other terms of the deal is that CAZ will get a 2% royalty on mine production and be allowed to appoint one member of Shear’s board of directors. Though extremely dilutive (they are looking to raise funds of $15 million by private placement), this move may give Shear an income stream within a couple of years. The problem with the Jericho mine is that $/ton value is somewhat lower than at Ekati or Diavik. Grade ranges from 0.34 to 1.49 c/t and average diamond value from (US) $78/c to $112/c as given in the NI 43-101 report. It is also significantly further north than the other mines. Narrow margins mean that diamond prices must remain high, the ice-road season be lengthy, a stronger US dollar, and mining be problem-free in order to draw a profit from Jericho and avoid Tahera’s fate. However, Shear does benefit from Tahera’s case study example in what a junior should avoid in operating an Arctic diamond mine. Should the economy remain strong, SRM should have a decent chance at making the mine work.

More Kimberlites at Chidliak

The other bit of significant news this week comes from Peregrine Diamonds where they continue to find new kimberlites with relative ease at their Chidliak property (Baffin Island). The company reports eight new kimberlite finds: two by drilling and six by surface prospecting. The latter discoveries seem to characterize the direction of this project as PGD continues to make textbook finds with ease in southwest Baffin Island. They also report mini-bulk samples taken from two earlier finds. The company continues this summer with their plan to investigate further geophysical anomalies in tandem with kimberlite indicator mineral data.

Renard Moves Towards Production

Moving away from Arctic diamond projects, Stornoway Diamond Corp. has added to this week’s mix with the formal commencement of the feasibility study for a mine at the Renard Diamond Project (central Quebec). This involves looking at how the proposed mine would affect the environment and local communities, increasing the capacity of the proposed mine from 5 kt/day to 8 kt/day, and a separate project to tie the mine into the electric power grid; amongst other items. The issues regarding corporate environmental and social responsibility are important as it shows that local stakeholders, i.e. the Quebec government and the local aboriginal (Cree) and non-aboriginal communities are on board with the project. The Impact and Benefits Agreement that the feasibility study considers is an important step in cementing this relationship.

As an addendum, the company announced that it had reached a pre-development agreement with the local Cree nation shortly after the initial publication of this article. This is an important step towards working out the Impact and Benefits Agreement necessary for the mine to develop.

In terms of exploration, SWY will continue expanding on the Foxtrot property that the Renard cluster is a part of. Winter drilling has already expanded the resources at Renard 3, 4, and 65. More drilling is happening this summer on these three kimberlite pipes.

While the economic recovery has reinvigorated consumer appetite for pretty carbon, the market still treats diamond juniors with some trepidation, being burnt by failures such as Tahera and lengthy lead times to production (e.g. Shore Gold and Fort à la Corne-Star).  Only prolonged stable economic growth and the development of some good projects to profitable production will see investors flock back to the diamond sector.

Disclaimer: The author holds shares of SWY, and SRM. Relevant comments are welcome and encouraged. Spam comments will be not posted and deleted. This article is based on the opinions and experience of the author. Please conduct due diligence when investing. ©KIM Report 2010 www.kimreport.com

Different Types of Diamonds at Fort à la Corne

Posted by David

Early last month, Shore Gold (SGF) announced that a high proportion (26%) of diamonds >2.7 c retrieved from the underground bulk sample at its 100% owned Star kimberlite in Saskatchewan are type IIa. This is a category of diamond that is typical of many “large special” diamonds >10.8 carats in size.

Diamond Types

In terms of impurities in their crystal structure, diamond can substitute nitrogen (N), boron (B), and/or hydrogen (H) for carbon. Nitrogen is the most abundant and well-studied impurity and can range from concentrations of 0 to >10,000 ppm (~1%). Diamonds with significant nitrogen (>10 ppm) are termed Type I and those without are Type II. N-bearing diamonds are further categorized into those where the substituting N is organized as single atoms (Type Ib) or as aggregates of more than one atom (Type Ia). These aggregates are classified into paired N atoms (Type IaA) or quartets (Type IaB), or a mix of both (Type IaAB).

Diamonds that are relatively free of N are Type II. Those with no N and some B are Type IIb. Type IIa diamonds are more common and have no N or B. Type Ib and IIb diamonds are relatively rare. Type Ia diamonds are the most common.

How Diamond Types Are Determined

How impurities such as nitrogen are arranged in a diamond can be determined in a non-destructive manner using Fourier-transform infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopy. Simply, light of a lower energy than visible light (infra-red) is shone through the diamond. By measuring the exact amount of light of a given energy that comes out the other side of the diamond (i.e. how much light is absorbed), it is possible to learn things about the diamond’s molecular structure. For example, how much nitrogen is in the diamond, and if it is in atomic pairs, or quartets. Fourier-transform is a mathematical and instrumental technique applied to infrared spectrometry to speed up analyses.

Issues With The Report’s Interpretation

In their news release, SGF refers to the Letšeng-la-Terae (Letšeng) mine in Lesotho (operated by Gem Diamonds, LSE-GEMD). This mine is considered quite unique as its low grade – <0.04 c/t, but has diamonds impressive quality and size. Average diamond value for this mine is >US$2000/c. This means a revenue of ~$80/t (2008 values).

However, the report’s suggestion that Type IIa equates to higher value stones cannot be considered absolute fact. This is because the mine they are comparing their diamonds to – Letšeng, is an anomaly in terms of its diamond population. While it is possible that with further valuation of parcels for SGF pipes a higher valuation could be realized, the current one is only about 10% (~$225/c) of Letšeng’s.

The diamonds shown by SGF in the full report (see above image for an example)- while large, are typically yellow-brown and some appear to contain large inclusions (internal cracks or non-diamond minerals). The report goes on to compare Letšeng and Star diamonds in terms of size class and % Type IIa. While Letšeng does show a marked increase in % Type IIa with increasing size, Star shows only a marginal increase, if at all.

The FTIR report commissioned by SGF also makes an error when referring to the trend of increasing percentage of Type IIa diamonds with increasing carat size for Star as comparable to that of Letšeng. The trends for each pipe are in fact rather different. Letšeng shows a significant increase of the proportion of Type IIa diamonds with size, whereas Star shows only a marginal increase (see plot below).

The SGF report states that the above figure “shows explicity that the abundance of Type II diamonds increases with increasing diamond size.” This statement is misleading as it is really only true for Letšeng diamonds. The academic study on Letšeng diamonds that SGF references for this report was based on less than 500 diamond samples (large stones of value being hard to obtain even for non-destructive studies). This relatively small number means that care must be taken when applying this study on a small number of diamonds from one kimberlite to the entire potential production of another. Granted, not that many large diamonds have been made available for such studies, but such over-reaching statements should not be made.

While the results of the report are interesting, and parallels can be made with the academic paper on Letšeng, there does not appear to be much evidence at this point for increased financial prospects of the Star project in terms of diamond type. Star still has one tenth the average diamond valuation of Letšeng without having close to ten times the grade. Though this does not in any way forestall a diamond mine in Saskatchewan, far better numbers have to come out of the Fort à la Corne area kimberlites for it to approach the level of Letšeng.

Disclaimer: The author does not hold shares of any company mentioned in this article. Relevant comments are welcome and encouraged. Spam comments will be deleted. This article is based on the opinions and experience of the author. Please conduct due diligence when investing. ©KIM Report 2010 www.kimreport.com