THE DIAMOND PAGE — De Beers’ rough diamond sales point to

De Beers’ Central Selling Organization (CSO) sold US$2.6 billion worth of rough diamonds in the first half of 1994. This figure is 1.5% higher than the same period last year and a healthy 41.5% higher than the second half of 1993.

Demand for retail jewelry remains high in East Asia and is stable in the U.S., CSA says, but it continues to be weak in Europe and Japan. Elsewhere in the Northwest Territories

* Caledonia Mining (TSE) has launched a $3-million exploration program on its extensive land holdings which comprise 720,000 hectares.

Much of the exploration will be carried out in the Coronation Gulf area, with offshore seismic work planned for an area near the town of Coppermine. Part of the objective is to locate undersea gravel beds in an area extending up to 20 km into the Gulf.

Caledonia also plans to bulk-sample the Coppermine, Richardson, Rea and Asiak Rivers, along with their respective drainage basins.

Geochemical sampling and geophysical surveys are planned for other properties in the area.

Saskatchewan

* Consolidated Pine Channel Gold (VSE) will start drill-testing a magnetic anomaly on the S-104855 claim in the Molanosa Arch structure, south of Lac La Ronge.

Golden Marlin Resources (VSE) and Montello Resources (ASE) each can maintain a 25% interest in the project.

* Rhonda Mining reports that Hole OFS-94-17, drilled recently in the Snowden area, cut a 2.4-metre section below 116 metres. The section contained sandstone beds rich in diamond indicator minerals, including chrome diopside, ilmenite and garnets. This occurrence is about 915 metres east of the diamondiferous kimberlite found last year in Holes OFS-93-2, 3 and 4. The company believes this new occurrence serves as evidence of the sorting and concentrating of heavy minerals by wave action on primary kimberlites that were ejected into a shallow sea some 95 million years ago. The resultant sediments are one of Rhonda’s primary exploration targets.

Half of the core from Hole OFS-94-17 is being analyzed for indicator minerals and diamonds. Additional drilling is planned.

The property is a joint venture between Rhonda, Aaron Oil (ASE) and Lucky Break Gold (VSE).

Overseas

* Under an exclusive option, Diamond Fields Resources (TSE) can develop the Koidu kimberlite project, situated 320 km from Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone, West Africa.

Dr. John Gurney estimates the project has reserves of 2.5 million carats to a depth of 300 metres. Other engineering evaluations place estimated reserves as high as 3.5 million carats. About 60% of the diamonds produced during testing are reported to be of gem quality. The largest stone found in sampling weighed 39 carats.

Diamond Fields expects commercial mining could begin in one year — a projection which is based on three factors: past production history, extensive testing, and a mining plan developed by a subsidiary of Sunshine Mining. Earlier this year, Diamond Fields acquired an option on all outstanding shares of this subsidiary, which includes technical data and Sunshine Mining’s past and future rights to the project.

In late July, Diamond Fields will release technical data regarding reserves and other information. The company already has two modest-size diamond mines in South Africa, as well as interests in marine diamond concessions along Africa’s southwestern coast.

* Amarado Resources (VSE) has agreed to acquire two diamond exploration licences covering 9,800 sq. km in Botswana.

Amarado will pay $125,000 over two years, issue 200,000 treasury shares and spend US$2.2 million over three years. The vendors retain a 3% royalty interest.

The properties are 50 km north and east of the diamondiferous Gope kimberlite pipe (GO-25), which is being bulk-sampled by De Beers. They lie between the Orapa and Jwaneng diamond mines and are localized along a major northeast-trending structure.

The project area was part of a larger reconnaissance area explored by Selection Trust in the 1980s. That firm found numerous indicator minerals and 17 macrodiamonds in the area.

Exploration is expected to begin shortly.

* Work programs are under way on Canmet Resources’ (VSE) two joint ventures in the Arkhangelsk region of northwestern Russia. The company has a 40% interest in the Verkhotina project and a half interest in Windy Ridge, both of which were previously explored by Russian groups. Canmet’s partners are local geological organizations.

The projects do not include the more advanced diamondiferous pipes, owned wholly by the Russians, which may go up for international tender in the near-future. Canmet’s Verkhotina joint-venture area is 35 km from the Zolotitsa kimberlite field, which contains the Russian-owned Lomonosova deposit. This latter deposit is reported to have a grade of 1.1 carats per tonne and 250 million tonnes of reserves.

Windy Ridge is a joint venture with St. Petersburg-based Horizon Research Institute, which is headed by Andrei Sinitsyn. A structural analysis of the area has been completed and some 60 morpho-structural targets (potential kimberlites) have been delineated. Four of these are considered priority targets.