Monopros joins Alberta hunt

Monopros, no stranger to Alberta diamond exploration, has thrown its hat into the ring and entered into a proposed joint-venture agreement with Troymin Resources (TRY-A) on a land package totalling 1.1 million acres in the Buffalo Hills area.

The package involves five blocks of permits on the peripheral edge of Ashton Mining of Canada’s (ACA-T) core Buffalo Hills option block, where 23 kimberlite discoveries have been made: the 369,000-acre Bison block, which adjoins the Buffalo Hills project on the north; the 92,000-acre Trout block, which adjoins Ashton on the east; the 23,000-acre Jack Pine block, to the west; and the 182,000-acre Bearhead and 392,000-acre Muskwa blocks, both of which are up to 25 km south of the Ashton ground.

Monopros, the Canadian exploration arm of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCS-Q), can earn an initial 51% interest from Troymin by spending a minimum of $5.5 million on a multi-stage exploration and development program by Feb. 28, 2002. This can be increased to 55% by incurring a further $15 million in expenditures.

Monopros can earn a final 5% share, for a total interest of 60%, by arranging financing for Troymin’s share of funding for the development of the first mine.

As part of the proposed agreement, Monopros will subscribe to a private placement of 428,000 units of Troymin at 70cents, for proceeds of $300,000.

Each unit will consist of one share and one warrant entitling the purchase of an additional share at $1.05 for a

2-year period.

Although this is Monopros’ first joint-venture into the Alberta diamond scene, the company is noted for discovering the Mountain Lake kimberlitic diatreme in 1994, southwest of Peace River. However, in a recent overview of diamond exploration in Alberta, David James, a mining analyst with Canaccord Capital, writes: “This body was drilled with Monopros’ permission in December 1995 by the Geological Survey of Canada; subsequent studies indicate that it is neither a kimberlite nor a lamproite.”

Troymin has completed a

27,000-line-km, high-resolution aeromagnetic survey over the 1.1 million acres of ground. The Calgary-based company says it has been advised by Monopros that several geophysical targets show pipe-like characteristics. An exploration program, to begin by early summer, will include geophysical surveying and sampling in preparation for drilling.