Canabrava adds ground in Ontario (October 15, 2001)

Vancouver — Adding to its promising portfolio of diamond properties in Ontario, Canabrava Diamond (CNB-V) has inked a deal with Berland Resources (BNL-V) to pick up more claims in the Porcupine mining division.

Under the deal, Canabrava can earn 100% of the ground by paying $100,000 and issuing 100,000 shares over three years. Berland retains a 2% gross royalty, and Canabrava can purchase back 1% for $1 million. Berland also has the right to mine any minerals other than diamonds discovered on the property with Canabrava holding a 2% net smelter royalty.

The new claims are in the same general area as the joint-venture projects of Canabrava, Paramount Ventures & Finance (PVF-V) and Kennecott Canada, a unit of Rio Tinto (RTP-N). Canabrava recently took over operation of the project from Kennecott and is investigating an outcrop of kimberlite found by tracing an 8-km boulder train back to its source. Kennecott had found two boulders in early 2001, and sampled both; these proved to be diamondiferous kimberlite, and one of the boulders yielded two macrodiamonds.

Canabrava recently sent a 120-kg bulk sample from the outcrop for analysis, and is trying to map the kimberlite occurrence.

Boulders elsewhere on the property, whose locations match dispersion trains of kimberlite indicator minerals found in earlier geochemical surveys, are also being traced back to outcrop. The indicator minerals — chromite, chrome diopside, and G10 garnets — suggest the kimberlite boulders may have the right chemistry to be diamondiferous.