Montreal once site of diamond hunt

Canada is known for its wealth of mineral resources but one variety it has had little to do with is diamonds, although they too have been the subject of exploration campaigns within the country.

News clippings forwarded to the editorial offices of The Northern Miner tell of such a search for diamonds about 20 years ago on, of all places, Ile Bizard in Montreal. Involved were, as one might guess, the De Beers group of South Africa through its subsidiary Canadian Rock Corp., and the company which staked the island, Southern Exploration & Development.

Montreal in 1967 was, you probably recall, the host of Expo 67. It was, no doubt, an exciting time to be living in the city, but four McGill University students were not so dazzled by the festivities as not to be attracted by a surface discovery of kimberlite, in which diamonds are known to occur.

Kenneth Wiggett, who worked in a stockbrokers office, was the father of one of the students. Caught up in the excitement himself, he helped the four students stake the island property and played a part in seeing that the mining rights were transferred to Southern Exploration, a company described as being fairly inactive at the time. Exploration deal

Southern Exploration contacted Canadian Rock and a deal was struck whereby the De Beers subsidiary was given the opportunity to pursue its own exploration on the 7,000-acre island and to acquire an option if any diamonds turned up. According to the news articles, the De Beers workers took drill sa mples in late 1967 and early 1968, washed the ore and shipped it to South Africa for closer inspection. The work also included collection of soil samples and airborne and geological surveys. Presumably, what De Beers found was not considered commercially viable for the project was abandoned in 1968.

As might be expected when an international firm becomes involved in a mining venture, the share price of Southern Exploration stock shot up, from 80 cents to $1.60. It wasn’t to last, however, and the stock retreated to its previous price level in due course.

So, the search for diamonds in Canada continues. Another part of the country where a kimberlite discovery has sparked staking is the Kirkland Lake area of northern Ontario.

Large U.S. base metal and silver producer Asarco Inc. may not be spinning off a gold division, but it is raising its output of the yellow metal to a respectable level.

In January of this year, Asarco Exploration Co. of Canada, a wholly- owned subsidary of Asarco Inc., added to its gold production by reopening the Aquarius mine near Timmins in northern Ontario.

The mine, developed by Asarco earlier this decade, was shut down a few years ago although the company continued to operate the mill on a custom-milling basis. Asarco says the mine, expected to produce 16,000 oz gold this year, was re- opened as a self-funding exploration and development project.

Early in 1987, the company started up the Wiluna gold mine in Australia, which produced 68,000 oz in 1987 and is expected to turn out 69,000 oz this year.

Wiluna is 50% owned by Asarco Australia, which is 60% owned by the parent Asarco firm following a $24-million(A) public offering last year involving 20% of the shares.

Asarco, the top U.S. producer of silver, also mines gold as a byprod uct at its zinc-lead mine at Leadville, Colo.

In other news, Asarco is spending $13 million this year to expand its Mission copper mining complex in Arizona. Mission’s output of copper in concentrates will rise from 59,000 tons in 1987 to an annual rate of 86,000 tons.

Privatization in the United Kingdom may soon be extended to the coal industry. The British government has hinted it may end the monopoly right of British Coal, the state-owned company, and allow private investors to become licensed coal producers.

The Australian Nugget gold bullion coin recently celebrated its first year in production and, according to officials, exceeded its 3-year annual sales target of 400,000 oz in its first year. More than 871,000 coins, representing 407,296 oz of Nuggets, have been sold.