Hope springs eternalThe generational slump in the diamond exploration sector has put a crack in the tenacious pursuit of gems by Patrick Power and Buddy Doyle's Arctic Star Exploration Corp. (ADD). Arctic Star, halted a month ago at a single penny, has been as quiet as a church mouse contemplating a new feline in the rectory -- an uncharacteristic pose for the normally chatty Mr. Power. Mind you, Mr. Power, the company's president and chief executive officer, turned the day-to-day affairs over to his newly promoted executive chairman, Mr. Doyle. Unfortunately, there have not been many affairs to handle in recent years as the diamond exploration depression enters its third decade without respite. Mr. Doyle and Mr. Power recently nodded toward the elephant in their room, conceding that "the junior exploration space saw our peers leave diamond exploration for other commodities [because of] the difficulty to finance diamond exploration." Having acknowledged the pachyderm, Arctic Star's diamond duo then appeared to edge toward the door: The company "plans to preserve the title over its diamond bearing kimberlites until a time market interest returns to the diamond space," they said, but added that they are "also looking at opportunities in other commodities." And so, not only will the Diagras project, northeast of Diavik and Ekati, and the Timantti project in east-central Finland, sit mothballed, but Arctic Star's focus could soon lie elsewhere. If so, investors can only hope that the next opportunity will come from an up-and-coming sector, not one headed down and out. Many of those peers noted by Mr. Power and Mr. Doyle leapt to lithium after the COVID-19 pandemic abated, but just as they leapt lithium prices began to plummet. One of the early adopters, former Arctic Star co-venturer North Arrow Minerals Inc. (NAR), recently moved on from lithium to pursue gold, a move that put new life in its long-lagging stock. (North Arrow rose one-half cent to 19.5 cents on 35,000 shares today.) Gold may be in Arctic Star's future, as it is a commodity that Mr. Doyle is now familiar with. He had long been a vice-president of exploration for Peter Miles's one-time diamond hunter, Sanatana Resources Inc. (STA), which turned to gold after the Great Recession. In 2018, Mr. Miles gave up one of his titles to make Mr. Doyle president. Not much good came Sanatana's way, until early May, when the company moved to acquire the Gold Strike Two project in Yukon -- an area play near Rogue, being explored by Snowline Gold Corp. (SGD: $9.46). Mr. Miles and Mr. Doyle are still moving -- the acquisition is incomplete -- but Sanatana's stock is moving too: On Friday, it rose 18 cents, and it got to 80 cents early today before slipping back to 76 cents on 135,000 shares, still a long haul from the 10 cents where it languished in early spring. Mr. Doyle has another company getting the Midas touch -- converting from lithium to gold. Rover Critical Minerals Corp. became Stockworks Gold Inc. (STW: $0.21) this week, as its focus shifted to the Pirenopolis gold project in Brazil that Mr. Doyle had been developing. Mr. Doyle has also been working other gold prospects as vice-president of exploration for a few other exploration juniors. Mr. Power is also no stranger to diversification. He has been president of Lake Winn Resources Corp. (LWR: $0.095) since 2018, when it was called Equitorial Exploration Corp. Lake Winn has a bleak -- and intermittent -- chart, and it has been on one of those halts since it moved to grab an antimony and silver play as a segue away from a lithium prospect in the Northwest Territories. And so, Arctic Star will keep its diamond plays alive, but there could be more glitter than sparkle in its focus over the next while. (Stockwatch)