De Beers boosts stake in partner

By exercising 984,000 share purchase warrants at 80 apiece, De Beers Canada Exploration has increased to 6.4% its interest in Mountain Province Diamonds (MPV-T).

De Beers acquired the warrants when, in September 2000, it took down a private placement in Mountain Province consisting of close to 2 million units. Each unit consisted of one share and half a warrant exercisable at 60 each.

De Beers and Mountain Province jointly own the Gahcho Kue diamond project (better known as Kennady Lake) in the Northwest Territories. De Beers continues to push the project through prefeasibility-level grade modeling and diamond valuation studies.

Gahcho Kue is held 51% by De Beers, 44.1% by Mountain Province and 4.9% by Camphor Ventures (CFV-V). De Beers can raise its interest to 60% by advancing the project to commercial production.