Northern Miner 9. Metalex Ventures
Market capitalization: US$2.1 million
Metalex Ventures (TSXV: MTX) is focused on diamonds exploration in northern Ontario. The company wholly owns mineral claims in the Kyle Lake region, 80 km west of De Beers’ Victor mine.
In 2005, Metalex discovered the T1 kimberlite pipe within these claims: a follow-up, 408-tonne bulk sample recovered 12,446 commercial-sized diamonds but their size distribution indicated that the pipe was not economic.
In 2006, Metalex completed a geophysical survey over the claims and then tested three priority kimberlites between T1 and the Victor mine. Most of the work to date has been focused on one of these – U2 – which is one of the largest known kimberlites in the region.
A 408-tonne bulk sample collected from U2 in 2010 recovered 1,946 commercial-sized diamonds, with a high proportion of stones in the larger size categories. Based on these results, Metalex plans to extract a 9,072-tonne bulk sample to define the diamond grades and their average values. In 2015, the company received the necessary permits to collect the bulk sample – to do so, it also must secure funding and sign an agreement with the First Nations bands in the area.
Metalex also has a 72% participating interest in the Big Red diamond JV and a 61.7% participating interest in the Dumont JV, both of which are in the Attawapiskat area of Ontario with diamonds exploration targets. The company’s chairman, geologist Charles Fipke, led the team that discovered Dominion Diamond’s Ekati mine.