Encouraged by the resultsWe are nearing a very important crossroad in the development of the Mud Lake play. The size of the deposit is large and still open ended, it is likely larger than Snap Lake, and it is very close to Yellowknife.
Snowfield managment has fallen under a lot of criticism over the years, but I believe that most of it is unfounded. Unquestionably, they are moving slowly but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Look at what has been accomplished in the last five years.
1. optioned or staked a land package of over 40,000 acres in the immediate area of the Drybones Kimberlite pipes,
2. acquired a 5 year land use permit from the MVLWB,
3. conducted a detailed analysis of till samples that revealed diamond indicating garnets,
4. discovered a Kimberlite sill at mudlake,
5. explored the sill and found it diamondiferous,
6. caustic fusion has revealed results that are very encouraging,
7. delineated an area for extraction of a 500 tonne bulk sample,
8. acquired financing for all of this and have only 53 million shares outstanding (Tahera had over 600 million before the consolidation).
All of this is done in an area of known kimberlitic pipes (drybones) and geologists tell us that kimberlitic pipes occur in groups. It is still possible that the drybones pipes may be economic but the cost of bulk sampling them is prohibitive.
Look at what happened with the Tli Kwai Cho pipe (DO27) discovered in the early 90's by Kettle River Resources. Kennecott took a bulk sample that was, apparantly, not representative of the pipes potential. Kettle River suspected all along that the pipe is likely economic and that the bulk sampling was not representative. Peregrine Diamonds will hopefully verify that contention when the results of a bulk sample of DO27 is released soon. A lot has been learned about diamond mining in the last 15 years. I believe Snowfield is carefully tryng to avoid making the same mistake.
These facts are important but what do we know about the quality, size and colour of the diamonds that are in this deposit? Not very much at this juncture. But the garnets discovered are significant indicators of what may be eventually revealed. The company states on their website" Review of the published information on kimberlites worldwide reveals that "green garnets" with similar chemical compositions as those found in the Mud Lake kimberlite, fall in the same compositional range as reported in a number of diamond bearing kimberlites including Premier, Kampfersdam, Newlands and Bultfontain mines in South Africa and at the Udachnaya mine in Russia.
Are you suprised that DeBeers are so interested in seeing the results of the bulk sample? Could their suspicions be based on many years of experience?
Not only that but maybe Mud Lake will reveal more coloured stones, like the brown diamond recently discovered during the caustic fusion. Coloured diamonds are very rare. The Argyle mine in Australia is actively marketing coloured stones on their own and it appears are making them popular. DeBeers wasn't happy that Argyle didn't join the cartel and we know that DeBeers likes us to think that white stones are the best.
In my mind, Mr. Paterson is not a stupid man and has been acting very responsibly. The wheel has been turning slowly but the results are showing.
I'm more encouraged now about the prospects for this stock than I have been in years. Let's cross our fingers and hope all of the waiting will be very worthwhile.