RE:RE:RE:RE:oitarBHP walked away from Diamonds...just like it did Gold as well.
If it didn't walk away from either...it would be a key player in Nunavut with a 100% interest in Hope Bay and a 58% interest Chidliak.
Kind of ironic (nice pun eh?) that they had and still have zero interest in Mary River.
De Beers is a tangled mess caught between Anglo and Alrosa.....there are too many reasons to guess as to why they could have left Chidliak and not all are fundamental to the project....some could be.
I've done a quick comparison of the KDI bulk versus CH-6 and put in the CH-7 mini bulk just to see. -->
Bulk sample comparison
Pisses me off that these companies can't standardize on a reporting measure.
PGD has dropped off the 0.85 to 1.18 mm...but KDI has firmed onto 0.85 and doesn't report carat counts above 1.18 mm...when in the end, a production scenario has closer to a 1.5 mm sieve on the lower end and anything below that gets tossed out.
I was going to include NAR's results in the table as well...but NAR has decided it isn't in the best interest to categorize the stone count by sieve....or at least it is not readily available on the site without significant digging.
I would like to see the % breakdown of the 35 1+ carat stones in the sample.
By Colour and by type.
Based on the current 5 stones only.
40% aggregate
20% macle
20% octahedral
20% dodecahedron
and
60% white/colorless
40% brown or light brown.
5 stones is not enough to legitimize the information above...however, the 30 stones would at least add some statistical significance to the above.
No indication of off white's or grey's in above.
Yet, you can clearly see them in the group photos -->
Photo - diamonds
There are some clear's in the population...also some yellow's.
Howard's going to have a fun type grouping those into individual groups. A bunch of those will yield $10 per carat or less. Just a question of what the gem quality and clear/white diamonds yield.
If he models the larger macro sizes to be less opaque in general and confirms it as a steady trend..that would be a boon to the valuation model. If that theory holds, I would suspect the modelled base case value might actually be higher than the actual value of the sample.
Math time:
Top 5 diamonds weigh 16.18 carats.
The next 30 diamonds weight between 1 carat and 2.59 carats each.
Aggressively say they are all 2.59 carats --> 77.7 carats
Total --> 93.88 carats.
Conservatively say they are all 1 carat --> 30 carats
Total --> 46.18 carats
So, one can then say that 89.5% to 94.8% of the stones in the bulk sample (by size) is less than 1 carat.
CH-6, has at most 88% under 1 carat (maximum) and more likely less...but public information only goes so far.
IMO KDI and PGD are next possible diamond mines in Canada. No idea on SGF...they almost need a Diamond corporation of Saskatchewan to come out of the government wordwork before that becomes a mine...not unlike the Potash industry.
Pro's for PGD:
Chidliak will have higher profit margin than KDI.
KDI will have a higher strip ratio.
KDI is under a partial lake.
KDI has a lot more waste to move.
Pro's for KDI:
It is next to a mine under construction.
that is it right now. So, far the Pro for KDI is beating the Pro's for PGD 2 fold.
If Chidliak was next to Gatcho Kue, we would be talking 10 fold.
If KDI's project was where Chidliak is, it would be half fold.
Unfortunately geologist's can't move deposits by big distances..yet they reguarly move deposits by several metres once mining gets underway :)
EKIM