Aber’s kimberlite may lift `Fipke curse’

Recent drilling on ground held by partners Aber Resources (TSE), Commonwealth Gold (VSE) and SouthernEra Resources (TSE) has blown holes in the theory that the BHP-Dia Met claim block holds the only potential for economic diamond discoveries in the Northwest Territories.

Testing its first target, the joint venture intersected a kimberlite intrusion on the south side of Lac de Gras, about 16 km south southwest of Dia Met’s diamond-bearing Point Lake pipe. Kennecott Canada is financing the program.

“It looks like the Fipke curse that all the ground outside of the Dia Met block is worthless may have been broken,” says John Kaiser, an analyst with Vancouver-based Pacific International.

Amid frenetic staking by a number of diamond seekers earlier this year, Dia Met Chairman Charles Fipke said results from his years of sampling in the Territories had ruled out the possibility of economic kimberlite finds outside the Dia Met-BHP landholdings. His brother, Wayne Fipke, added fuel to the fire by labelling all rival claims “moose pasture.”

Their proximity suggests the likelihood that the Aber find and the Point Lake pipe are members of the same cluster, says Grenville Thomas, president of Aber. Worldwide, kimberlite pipes tend to occur in clusters averaging 50 km in diameter.

But Aber and its partners have yet to ascertain whether their kimberlite intrusion is diamondiferous, let alone economic. Samples from the core intersection, the length of which is still under determination, are being assayed. In the meantime, Aber, moving systematically from west to east, is testing another seven nearby targets with 5,000 ft. of drilling. The find, which lies under a 700×200-metre magnetic anomaly associated with diamond indicator minerals, is on ground held 51% by Aber, 24% by Commonwealth and 25% by SouthernEra.

Kennecott can earn a 60% share of SouthernEra’s interest by carrying all of SouthernEra’s share of expenses to a production decision. Kennecott can also earn a 60% interest in Aber’s stake by carrying $10 million of Aber’s share of the expenditures. Commonwealth’s interest is fully participating. In other diamond developments:

— Texas Star Resources (VSE) has increased its

landholdings in the Northwest Territories to more than one million acres. The Vancouver-based junior says it recently staked an additional 510,000 acres that cover two major and a number of minor fracture sets near Point Lake, northwest of the BHP-Dia Met property.

Meanwhile, the company is awaiting results from 412 samples taken on its original claim block. Processing to recover chrome diopsides and pyrope garnets is expected to take two months.

— Consolidated Newgate Resources (VSE) and SouthernEra have entered into a 30-70% joint venture agreement to explore a 50,000-acre property around a barren kimberlite in the Snow Lake region of northern Manitoba. Falconbridge, which made the kimberlite discovery in 1983 while exploring for base metals, will retain a royalty interest convertible to a working interest.

Newgate has also signed an agreement to acquire a 50% interest in 20 properties, or 160 claims, in northwestern Ontario. In order to earn the interest, Newgate must pay an unidentified private company 200,000 shares and $50,000 in cash and spend $400,000 on exploration over two years. Newgate says nine magnetic anomalies, possibly kimberlites, have been identified on the property to date. Negotiations with a major mining company willing to finance exploration are under way.