Diamonds & Specialty Minerals Summary for Oct. 30, 2014
2014-10-30 19:24 ET - Market Summary
by Will Purcell
Richard Mazur and Mike Koziol's
Alto Ventures Ltd. (ATV), up one cent to six cents on 56,000 shares, has wrapped up its till sampling at GEFA and Fisher, two diamond properties near Pikoo in Northern Saskatchewan. Alto's Fisher spans 3,500 hectares 15 kilometres northwest of Pikoo, where
North Arrow Minerals Inc. (NAR: $0.51) found several small kimberlites last year, including one found to be rich in diamonds. Alto's 13,000-hectare GEFA play is east of North Arrow's Pikoo, about 15 kilometres from the diamond discovery. Alto collected 325 till samples on the two properties in the hope of delineating source regions for indicator mineral trains on its properties, although Mr. Mazur, CEO, and Mr. Koziol, president, also had their crew "evaluate the potential for gold and base metals" on Fisher. (Mr. Mazur loves to remind investors he was a "member" of a team that developed three Canadian gold mines for Canamax Resources Ltd. He was, although his duties as business development analyst, assistant secretary and investor relations man were undoubtedly not as important as he now suggests; nor is Canamax a story to be recalled fondly by investors who held the stock through the 1980s.)
The Pikoo promotions will have to endure the winter on till samples and geophysics alone, as none of the area explorers did any drilling this year. North Arrow decided against further tests of PK-150, which averaged 1.3 carats per tonne in a 210-kilogram test last year, because the kimberlite is too small to be of interest on its own. North Arrow did collect 560 till samples this summer and fall, some on ground held by rival explorers just north of Alto's GEFA claims, an area that could become the new focus.