LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — Diamonds shouldn’t be the only

Your past few issues had a number of letters regarding information problems and risk assumed by investors in mining companies involved with diamond exploration, especially in Canada.

There is no doubt this diamond play is real, and there is little doubt it is also a high risk for investors. These investors should remember what their stockbrokers have (or should have) told them: never invest more than you are prepared to lose and keep your portfolios diversified to lower the risk. Exploration dollars always seem to follow the hot plays, ignoring other equally attractive commodities. During the past few decades, we’ve gone from base metals, to uranium, to gold and now to diamonds (or anything in some foreign country).

For the past couple of years, I’ve looked after an Ontario Prospectors Assistance Program-funded prospecting syndicate for gold in the Beardmore-Geraldton area of northwestern Ontario. There are many prospectors who have been similarly funded and have come up with excellent gold properties, many close to, or at, the drill stage.

Perhaps some enterprising junior companies with visionary management and shareholders might consider diversifying back into the gold game, or perhaps a courageous exploration manager for a major might venture a larger proportion of his 1994 budget for Canadian non-diamond prospects. I’m certain that any resident government geologist’s office could provide names of regional prospectors with good properties who are willing to option them on reasonable terms.

Despite Canada’s current social and economic problems, the country still has a proven record of stable government and land ownership (an arguable point today in British Columbia); and despite the tarnish on metals, their proven cyclical nature will undoubtedly provide future rewards to those companies now exploring for them.

Allan Willy

Toronto