Post by
Tommer3 on May 27, 2008 12:24pm
"The rainy season is just ending......."
Hi,
I just received a news wire in my email inbox. I thought I would post this wire as it was interesting to hear the comments on the weather this last year in Brazil and how it is effecting progress.
Looks like Iciena is not the only company that was delayed because of longer then normal rainy season.
Enjoy the read…….
Tommer
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Vaaldiam plans Rondonia gem hunt
Vaaldiam Resources Ltd (2) (C:VAA)
Shares Issued 213,691,598
Last Close 5/26/2008 $0.385
Tuesday May 27 2008 - Street Wire
by Will Purcell
Ken Johnson's Vaaldiam Resources Ltd. hopes to complete its first drill program on the Rondonia project in Brazil, which it acquired through the takeover of Great Western Diamonds Corp. early this year. The Rondonia play was the reason Mr. Johnson went after Great Western. The project lies in the same area as Vaaldiam's Pimenta Bueno project, which hosts some big, diamondiferous pipes. The company has been waiting on weather to start work, and it has a few months of exploration to do before it can drill.
Vaaldiam's original shareholders will want some good news in a hurry from Rondonia, as their company issued about 45 million shares to acquire Great Western. Meanwhile, Vaaldiam's shares have lost about two-thirds of their value since last summer.
The plan
Mr. Johnson said the year's work would not start for a few weeks, as the rainy season is just ending in Rondonia. In a normal year, the downpours get rolling in October and continue almost daily until early April, but frequent showers persisted into May this year.
The rainfall amounts are similar to what the average Vancouverite experiences over the same period, but high humidity and temperatures approaching 30 degrees C make the tropical rains of Rondonia far steamier affairs. Vaaldiam's workers are used to the rains and the nasty insects they breed, but the mucky conditions can make prospecting impossible.
Mr. Johnson said Vaaldiam needed more targets for a drill program, and the company has nearly four months of preliminary work to do before it gets a drill turning. That would run through the four driest months, leaving the company's drillers set to start work just as the monsoons return. Fortunately, drilling is the activity least affected by the rains.
Vaaldiam expects to have enough drill targets on the old Great Western play to warrant hauling a rig into the shrinking jungles of Rondonia, but it may combine the program with work on Pimenta Bueno. In fact, Mr. Johnson said the company was planning to combine the two projects into one, which it would probably refer to as its Rondonia project.
The encouragement
Both Vaaldiam and Great Western thought enough of the Rondonia play to make it a key part of their plans. BHP Billiton Inc. held the ground previously and it found several kimberlites, including five with microdiamonds. In all, over 700 kilograms of kimberlite yielded 79 gems. That left BHP unimpressed, but the numbers appear comparable with that from Vaaldiam's Pimenta Bueno pipes. Most Brazilian kimberlites are not prolific producers of microdiamonds, and larger tests for macros are a better test.
As a result, Vaaldiam's current mini-bulk tests of two Pimenta Bueno pipes could attract interest to its drill plans on Rondonia. The company hopes that its underground dig at Cosmos-1 and Cosmos-2 will yield better grades than Rio Tinto found in reverse circulation drilling tests a few years ago.
Rio Tinto's 62-tonne test of Cosmos-1 managed a grade of just 0.04 carat per tonne and all the diamonds were small. The company also pulled small samples from Cosmos-3 and Pepper-4, but managed grades of less than 0.01 carat per tonne. Vaaldiam does not expect huge grades with its digs, but the company does expect to improve substantially on both the grade and size distribution of the original tests.
Vaaldiam thinks its Rondonia play has big kimberlites comparable with Pimenta Bueno. It models its Pimenta play after the big, low-grade pipes in Saskatchewan, although without the big overburden problems with the latter play. Further, the company thinks its capital and operating costs will be more attractive in low-cost Brazil.
Vaaldiam closed up 1.5 cents to 38.5 cents Monday, on 8,300 shares.