MUM mention in Timmins Press GEM story Company believes it could be onto the next Northern diamond find
TIMMINS/The Daily Press
January 14.2004
By Gregory Reynolds
A junior mining company has big dreams as it is seeking nickel south of
Timmins and diamonds at Attawapiskat and Wawa.
Pele Mountain Resources Inc. is drilling on its 100 per cent owned Timmins
Nickel Property. It is also drilling on its 100 per cent owned Attawapiskat
River Diamond
Project.
What may be its best property is 25 kilometres north of Wawa where president
Al Shefsky says ³Pele has discovered an important new source of Canadian
commercial size and gem quality diamonds.²Pele controls a 100 per cent
mineral rights interest in the 101 square km Festival Diamond Property.
During the 2003 winter exploration program, a 13 tonne sample from the
Cristal diamond occurrence returned 39 commercial size diamonds, including a
0.72 carat white gem quality diamond named ³The Big Goose.²
In December, prospector Joe Leadbetter found a 1.39 carat gem quality stone
by panning in the Wawa district.
In July, De Beers Canada Exploration Ltd., the world¹s leading diamond
exploration, mining and marketing company, signed an option and joint
venture agreement that will see it earn an initial 5l per cent participating
interest and to form a joint venture if it spends $10 million by Dec. 31,
2006.
In November, Pele acquired 41 mining claim units 35 kms south of Timmins
tied to the southern boundary of the former producing Texmont Nickel Mine.
³Pele acquired this highly prospective nickel property in late 2003 because
of strong nickel market fundamentals and the fortuitous availability of a
property that included the appropriate host rock types situated adjacent to
a past producing mine,² Shefsky said.
³Several former and currently producing nickel mines are hosted within the
world-renowned komatiite associated nickel deposits of the Timmins area.
³The recent increase in nickel prices and the construction of a nickel
concentrator by Falconbridge for its Montcalm nickel mine to be on-stream by
2005, has revitalized nickel exploration in the area which has already led
to an important discovery of nickel mineralization by Mustang Minerals
Corporation.²
At Attawapiskat, where De Beers is expected to announce Ontario¹s first
diamond mine in May, Pele¹s drilling is to test targets identified in the
on-going ground geophysics program it announced in October and December.
Drilling of magnetic geophysical targets is an established method for the
discovery of the known kimberlite pipes in the Attawapiskat cluster.
At least 18 diamond-bearing kimberlites have already been discovered in the
cluster, including De Beers¹ Victor kimberlite pipe which, according to
published information, is advancing toward planned commercial diamond
production in 2007.
Pele¹s Attawapiskat River Diamond Project comprises the largest 100 per cent
owned claim holdings within a 30 kilometre radius of the Victor pipe.
Kimberlite discoveries announced by a number of junior exploration companies
working in the area over the past few years suggest the possibility that
additional kimberlites are likely to be present in the area, he said