Dia Met shares top $20 on new kimberlite finds

Machinations in European currency markets appeared to give gold a bit of a boost during the period ended Sept. 15. Bullion finished the week up US$4 as continued high German interest rates put pressure on European Community currencies.

It will likely take a considerably larger move in the yellow metal to spark interest in resource markets, however.

Save for the odd pocket of diamond-generated excitement, Western markets remained lacklustre. The Vancouver Stock Exchange composite index lost 5.86 points to finish at 573.81, while the resource index managed to gain slightly more than eight points to close at the 571 level. The Alberta Stock Exchange composite index fared better, adding more than 17 points to close at 883.04. Investors finally received a morsel of solid information from Dia Met Minerals on its 29%-owned Point Lake diamond property in the Lac de Gras area of the Northwest Territories. The company’s partner, BHP Minerals Canada, announced that exploration this year has identified nine new kimberlites in addition to the discovery pipe at Point Lake.

Core samples and small bulk samples from the new kimberlites are now being tested for diamond content. The companies stated that at least 10 microdiamonds and one macrodiamond were recovered from an initial 40-kg sample taken from one of the kimberlites.

Dia Met shot up on the news, trading as high as $22.38 before settling at $20.50 for a gain of $2.25.

Commonwealth Gold, one of the numerous companies with ground in the general area of the diamond play, topped the most active list with more than 6.9 million shares traded. The issue touched a high of 75 cents before finishing up a penny at 60 cents.

Adding to last week’s gains, Kookaburra Gold closed up 49 cents to $1.49. The company recently signed a letter of intent with AG Armeno Mines to acquire up to a 65% interest in two porphyry copper projects in Ecuador. In addition, Kookaburra announced it has completed a 2-million-unit private placement with its Australian parent company, Xenolith Gold. With the two million warrants included in the placement, Xenolith holds or can acquire up to 7.3 million shares of Kookaburra (about 61% of the company).

The VSE lifted the trading ban on Yellow Point Mining. The ban stemmed from allegations of trading irregularities against the investor relations group promoting the company’s shares. Yellow Point has severed ties with the group and is proceeding with previously announced plans to acquire a Czechoslovakian gold project with partner Riviera Explorations. Yellow Point traded as high as 51 cents following its reinstatement before closing at 32 cents.

Adrian Resources released assay results for the first drill hole on the Petaquilla deposit in Panama. Starting at a vertical depth of 88.6 ft., the hole intersected 255.8 ft. grading 0.71% copper and 0.010 oz. gold and 0.074 oz. silver per ton. Adrian, which is earning a 40% interest in the property from Minnova, is concentrating on testing the deposit’s gold potential. Adrian closed at 88 cents, off 4 cents.

Yellowjack Resources, off 14 cents to 48 cents, added four claims to its Crescent property in Clark Cty., Nev. Previous drilling in 1980 by the private owner of the claims intersected a number of wide gold values, including 120 ft. grading 0.15 oz. gold. The company hopes to initiate a $500,000 exploration program on the property to confirm the results. Athena Gold reports Pegasus Gold completed a 6-month payment of US$125,000 to the company as stipulated in the companies’ option agreement. Pegasus is earning a 70% interest in Athena’s Talapoosa gold-silver property in Nevada, last estimated to contain a preliminary reserve of 19.6 million tons grading 0.045 oz. gold and 0.6 oz. silver. Athena closed down 4 cents to 30 cents.