Metalex plans Brazilian drilling (as does Iciena)Metalex – plans Brazilian drilling
An interesting street wire out today on Metalex who has claims to the north of Iciena (I believe) but as it relates to Iciena…. Chuck Fipke is our key operator and Chad Ulansky (President and right hand man to Fipke) is on board as a consultant.
Brazil is getting talked about more & more these days and as it relates to Metalex in Brazil there are some synergies being enjoyed between our companies….
Talking of synergies, we share common operators, labs and key geologists, however I know now (after the fact) Metalex wished they took advantage of the highly sophisticated “new advanced technology” airborne survey Iciena flew over our claims. It was not easy getting that technology into the region and now that results have been seen they wish they flew their claims….
Any ways… I am expecting good things moving forward….
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Metalex plans Brazilian drilling
Metalex Ventures Ltd (C:MTX)
Shares Issued 85,888,374
Last Close 4/1/2008 $0.295
Wednesday April 02 2008 - Street Wire
by Will Purcell
Chuck Fipke's public gem hunter, Metalex Ventures Ltd., plans drilling on a Brazilian diamond property it is acquiring from his private company, Kel-Ex Development Ltd. Metalex could always use more diamonds; its shares are back in the 30-cent doldrums after a brief bit of excitement over some kimberlite finds in Angola. The company's shareholders are understandably grouchy; their shares lost about 95 per cent of their value from a 2003 peak of $5.40. Still, when Mr. Fipke -- and perhaps only Mr. Fipke -- gives a chemistry lesson, the market's speculative juices flow freely.
The plan
The great diamond finder began working in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil several years ago. The state is in the west-central part of the country, a wet and tropical part of the country where the main streams and rivers feed the mighty Amazon. Much of the thick jungle that gave the state its name is gone today, replaced by farmland. That makes work easier for diamond hunters like Metalex.
Mr. Fipke's crews completed detailed geophysics over a 1,250-hectare area that the Kelowna-based geologist thinks is the source of its promising indicator minerals. The preliminary data produced five potential kimberlites up to 300 metres in diameter. These targets are scheduled for drilling once the boring geophysical assessment is complete.
Impatient investors usually find geochemistry an equally tedious subject these days. Garnets usually garner no more than a yawn, but there remains a receptive audience when Mr. Fipke is chatty about his indicator finds. As a result, speculators are often quick to become Metalex shareholders when Mr. Fipke talks chemistry.
Metalex's shares spiked briefly to 55 cents earlier this year on the Angolan pipe find. Last fall, a quick run to 54 cents followed word of drilling near a developing metals play in Ontario. Early in 2007, a new pipe at Kyle Lake pushed the stock to 77 cents. The most telling run occurred early in 2005, when Metalex's shares jumped 90 cents to open at $2.15, when the company reeled off a list of indicator minerals from two Greenland samples.
So far, the market is subdued about Metalex's Brazilian indicators. The stream sediment samples produced eclogitic garnets, but Mr. Fipke reserves most of his enthusiasm for his chrome diopsides, signs that big diamonds lurk nearby. Of course, one need not have a degree in chemistry to determine that. Local prospectors, called garimpeiros, have been pulling stones weighing a few hundred carats out of Mato Grosso's rivers and streams for many years.
The encouragement
Mr. Fipke is a persevering sort; he started his stream sampling eight years ago. He found enough promise to do detailed work in 2002, which yielded more indicator mineral sparkle. The work cut the likely source region to a manageable size and Mr. Fipke is following his usual approach by turning the play over to his public company. Kel-Ex will receive 10 million Metalex shares for its work and will keep a 10-per-cent-carried interest in the project.
The garimpeiros were first on the scene in the area surrounding Paranatinga. They began churning through the gravel beds of the Batovi and Jatoba Rivers and found some impressive diamonds over the years that weighed up to 300 carats. The current garimpeiro production generally sells for between $90 (U.S.) and $125 (U.S.) per carat.
A local prospector running gravel through a crude recovery system is a sure sign of alluvial diamonds, and De Beers arrived late in the 1960s to find their source. It found more than three dozen kimberlites, but none proved to be worth a further look. Rio Tinto came later and it found nine more pipes, but diamonds were just as scarce as in the De Beers pipes.
Metalex closed down a penny to 29.5 cents Tuesday on 72,800 shares.
© 2008 Canjex Publishing Ltd.