Chuck Fipke and Chad Ulansky's Metalex Ventures Ltd. (MTX), a dogged diamond explorer in Ontario and Quebec for most of its 22-year existence, added one-half cent to 1.5 cents on 29,000 shares when it last traded on Tuesday. The company's exploration tastes have been more eclectic in recent years, more out of circumstance and necessity than through strategy. The company's Ontario diamond properties now sit idle, while its Quebec diamond project has morphed into a quest for lithium and scandium -- even gold.
Unfortunately, none of the pursued metals and minerals have appeared in promotable quantities, and so enthusiastic diamond investors that paid the equivalent of $56 per share in 2002 and held their shares since then are now in the forget-about-it position of having a $5,600 investment that purchased 1,000 shares erode to a 100-share holding worth just $1.50 -- a decline of 99.97 per cent.