by Will Purcell
The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Monday was a mediocre 65-70-127. The TSX Venture Exchange gained seven points to 805 while polished diamond prices edged lower. Dominion Diamond Corp. (DDC) gained two cents to $13.49 on 403,000 shares. Dominion, which briefly poked above $14 in December for the first time since last spring, is mounting another charge.
Andre Audet and Jacques Letendre's Majescor Resources Inc. (MJX), down 1.5 cents to 7.5 cents on 86,000 shares, has staked two new diamond properties in Northern Quebec. The company has acquired the 461-hectare Laparre property in the Otish Mountains district based on some promising indicator minerals, and it has also staked the 1,899-hectare Nottaway property, just over 100 kilometres west of Matagami. (The company also staked a gold prospect, Mirabelli, near the Radisson road in the James Bay district.)
In revealing Majescor's new projects, Mr. Audet, chief executive officer, also pointed out that the company has two continuing prospects: the Eastmain gold project, acquired in the fall of 2015 using technology developed by Diagnos Inc. (ADK: $0.175), and the Rupert lithium prospect. Curiously, Mr. Audet said nothing about another 6,875 hectares of claims that Majescor was optioning from Diagnos for their diamond potential. Majescor acquired that option just two months ago, agreeing to pay $50,000 in cash, issue 2.5 million shares and spend a total of $300,000 on exploration over two years.
At the time, Mr. Audet said that the Diagnos deal signified that Majescor was returning to its roots, exploring for diamonds in Quebec. It is unclear if the company's silence about the Diagnos diamond project is an oversight or a sign that the new promotional shoot has already wilted. Either way, Majescor is likely to stay keen on diamonds, as Mr. Audet recently appointed Mr. Letendre as a director. Mr. Letendre, a former De Beers geologist, was Majescor's president through the early 2000s and a director until 2009. He left during the depths of the diamond depression, when Majescor abandoned all its diamond projects.
Majescor's renewed diamond hunt is likely to start at Nottaway, which appears the more advanced of the two new prospects. Mr. Audet says he and his crew staked the property based on its indicator mineral promise, and he says there is old geophysical data available for a review that will be "initiated in the near future." The near future often drags on endlessly with junior explorers, but Mr. Audet did pin himself down a bit. He says that the best of the anomalies will see ground geophysics and drilling in 2017. He also offers a vague promise of work at Laparre this year, saying that "ground follow-up" of the anomalous kimberlite indicator mineral samples is planned.
There is cause for optimism, as Matt Manson's Stornoway Diamond Corp. (SWY: $0.94) is now mining diamonds at Renard, in the Otish Mountains district. Unfortunately, none of the surrounding ground yielded more than a few microdiamonds from isolated kimberlite discoveries, despite a large area with anomalous (low, but hopefully significant) indicators and enticing geophysical targets. Mr. Audet's description of Nottaway highlights one of the problems of working in the area. Although Majescor's indicator counts are "highly anomalous" and suggestive of a nearby source, the probable head of the train is "poorly defined."
Patrick Power's Arctic Star Exploration Corp. (ADD), up one cent to 11.5 cents on 386,000 shares, is inching closer to a drill program on its Cap rare earth and rare metals project in north-central British Columbia. The company acquired Cap in an option arrangement with Zimtu Capital Corp. (ZC: $0.215) in 2010, but it accomplished little over the years. In 2013, Arctic Star tried dealing Cap off to Damon Capital Corp. as a qualifying transaction, but Damon cancelled the deal the following year.
Mr. Power, Arctic Star's founder, president and CEO, resurrected Cap late last year when the company sold five million flow-through shares at six cents, raising $300,000 to cover a drill program. The company has now applied for drill permits. The rare earth market is still in the dumps, but Mr. Power is promoting Cap more for its niobium and tantalum potential, as those rare metals are in demand by the green energy sector. This will be the first drilling at Cap, but the property has produced assays of niobium, tantalum and rare earths in the past. Unfortunately, the grades are sufficiently anomalous (low) that the company touts them as ppm, not percentages.
Gary Economo's Focus Graphite Inc. (FMS), down one-half cent to 8.5 cents on 1.38 million shares, has received assays of up to 10.7 per cent graphite over 102.1 metres at its Lac Tetepisca project, southwest of Manicouagan in north-central Quebec. The assays are from an 18-hole drill program that Focus completed last year, work that followed a maiden drill program in 2014. One hole in that program yielded 10.25 per cent graphite over 103.9 metres.
Mr. Economo, president and CEO, says Lac Tetepisca is "well on its way to becoming the company's second significant graphite asset" in the region. Development of the first, Lac Knife, ground to a halt after the company completed a feasibility study in 2014, based on a $165-million plan to mine 7.86 million tonnes of 15.13 per cent graphite. The study put the discounted net present value at $224-million after taxes, but raising cash to build a mine is proving to be a challenge. In the meantime, Mr. Economo is finding it cost effective to promote Lac Tetepisca. He is promising a resource estimate shortly.
Mark Smith's Niocorp Developments Ltd. (NB), down two cents to 70 cents on 382,000 shares, is borrowing $2-million (U.S.) from Mr. Smith, its executive chairman and CEO. The secured credit facility will bear an interest rate of 10 per cent, is subject to a 2.5-per-cent establishment fee and will come due in a year. The company needs the cash for "continuing working capital needs." (Those needs are apparently pressing, as the company has already drawn down $175,000 (U.S.).) At last report, Niocorp was beavering away on plans that could cut its projected capital and operating costs for its Elk Creek niobium and tantalum project in Nebraska. A 2015 dream sheet put the cost of the mine at nearly $1-billion (U.S.) for a 2,700-tonne-per-day operation that would process 31 million tonnes averaging 0.80 per cent niobium oxide, 73 ppm scandium and 2.84 per cent titanium oxide over a 20-year period.