Brazil is going to get HOT - with ACTIVITYIciena has a drill plan to execute (awaiting the announcement) and 147 heavy bulk samples to disseminate. Looks like Mr. Fipke has all the land he wants and is now starting to talk about his efforts. Iciena just released some preliminary results, flew a million dollar airborne survey of the property, results to be released shortly on the bulk samples and drilling to commence shortley.
Looks like Chuck Fipke is focusing his attention on Brazil for now!
Tommer3
---------
Metalex gets ready for Brazil gem hunt
Metalex Ventures Ltd (C:MTX)
Shares Issued 68,793,373
Last Close 10/24/2007 $0.38
Thursday October 25 2007 - Street Wire
by Will Purcell
Chuck Fipke's Metalex Ventures Ltd. is making plans for over $1-million worth of exploration on its Batovi diamond project in Brazil and it will likely have a partner willing to pay the bills. The work will include preliminary geophysics and sampling, but that will lead to a big drill program on untested targets and a mini-bulk sample of at least one older discovery. Earlier results were mixed at best, but Mr. Fipke likes what he sees in his geochemical work.
The plan
The Batovi project covers 120,000 hectares in Mato Grosso province of west-central Brazil, 220 kilometres northeast of Cuiaba and 100 kilometres north of Paranatinga. Mr. Fipke acquired the play several years ago through his private company KelEx Development Ltd., and passed it along to Metalex earlier this year for about $4-million worth of shares. KelEx retains a net profits interest.
American Diamond Corp. can earn a 40-per-cent interest in the project by spending $5-million on exploration. That deal is not final, but either way, work should get started on Batovi shortly. Metalex's recommended program calls for it to mount a $1.5-million effort over the next year.
The work will include a 20-hole core drilling program that will probe new targets selected from the geophysical data. The cost of the drilling will easily top $300,000, including camp and transportation charges. As well, Metalex plans to revisit some of the existing kimberlite outcrops by collecting mini-bulk samples. The current expectation has the company completing one sample weighing about 20 tonnes. That would cost a few hundred thousand dollars more.
Mr. Fipke began working in the area several years ago and the Batovi project received about $1.6-million worth of exploration since 2000. About two-thirds of the work took place prior to 2002, with nearly all the rest occurring over the past two years. The shift to Metalex and American Diamond suggests Batovi will be busier over the next few years.
The encouragement
Explorers have been coming and going on the Batovi project for at least 40 years. Local miners started working the general area for alluvial diamonds in the early 1960s and these garimpeiros found several large diamonds in the gravel beds surrounding Paranatinga. The local miners continue to work the gravels of the Batovi and Jatoba Rivers and their gem hauls, which include stones weighing up to three carats, are fetching between $90 (U.S.) and $120 (U.S.) per carat. Over the past decade these operations produced some larger gems, with weights topping 100 carats.
De Beers arrived in 1967. The diamond giant discovered over three dozen kimberlites, but limited testing of the material showed none of the bodies to be significantly diamondiferous. The company did recover two tiny diamonds from an 85-kilogram sample of pipe CG-01 and it did find some alluvial stones, but it quit the area nevertheless.
Rio Tinto began working in the Batovi area in the early 1990s and it discovered nine more kimberlites. The mining major quickly became disillusioned with the play when none of the bodies yielded any microdiamonds. Based on the lack of gems, Rio Tinto chose to move elsewhere as well.
Mr. Fipke began a stream sediment sampling program in 2000 and his work showed encouraging diamond signatures in a variety of eclogitic and pyrope garnets. That led to a big push in 2002, which confirmed the mineral promise of the area. The gem hunter did more sampling this year and the work may be narrowing down the area of interest considerably. Metalex now thinks it may be chasing a potential kimberlite source for a 300-carat gem recovered from the Batovi River years ago.
Metalex closed down a cent to 38 cents Wednesday on 40,000 shares.
© 2007 Canjex Publishing Ltd.