Metalex Ventures Ltd V.MTX

MTX Stockwatch

[coolshivers]

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Tuesday was a bleak 52-115-143 as the TSX Venture Exchange fell nine points to 581. Chuck Fipke and Chad Ulansky's Metalex Ventures Ltd. (MTX) closed unchanged at two cents on 10,000 shares. Metalex has been focused on its James Bay project -- properties dotting a large expanse of north-central Quebec -- as it chases a variety of minerals. The most active area this year has been the A5 block, where the company launched, suspended and then resumed a drill program targeting a potential source of the anomalous counts of ilmenite grains that turned up in till sampling.
Late last month, Mr. Ulansky, president and chief executive officer, and Mr. Fipke, chairman and major shareholder, said that the wildfire-delayed drilling was expected to be completed during the summer "as conditions allow." (The good news is that conditions have been far more consenting than they were in early June, when the wildfires began ravaging wide areas of Quebec's forests, forcing travel bans and halts to many an exploration program.)
The ilmenite grains that Metalex is checking out are the primary target, rather than a kimberlite indicator that the mineral is frequently deemed to be. The ilmenite, you see, is a source of scandium, perhaps in sufficient amounts to be economic. Scandium deposits come in all shapes and grades, although most shapes are small, and most grades resemble those for lower-grade silver deposits. Not to worry on that score, as scandium prices recently were running at near $120 (U.S.) per ounce -- almost quintuple the price of silver.
Two-cent Metalex -- remember this stock traded at $5.60 in 2002 and that was before a 1:10 rollback -- could use some good news on the scandium front since all its diamond projects are lagging, dormant or dead. The most active prospect is the Viljoenshof property in South Africa, where Metalex agreed to acquire a 70-per-cent interest in a licence from Invest In Property 126 Pty. Ltd. (IIP).
Metalex agreed to spend roughly $20,000 to convert the prospecting licence to a lease, in exchange for a 20-per-cent interest in Viljoenshof. Metalex would next complete an airborne geophysical survey testing known kimberlites and then make a $10,000 (U.S.) payment to IIP, in exchange for a further 15 per cent share.
Drilling at least a dozen holes into prospective kimberlite targets and a further $10,000 (U.S.) payment will get Metalex to holding a 51-per-cent position, while bulk sampling and a $100,000 (U.S.) payment will take the company to 61 per cent. Should Metalex then complete a feasibility study, it would hold the full 70-per-cent interest. IIP would then collect a $100,000 (U.S.) payment should Mr. Ulansky and Mr. Fipke make a positive production decision.
It all sounds so step-by-step encouraging -- especially since the property hosts several known kimberlite bodies. Better yet, samples collected from them over the years produced diamond indicator minerals that Mr. Fipke and Mr. Ulansky applaud as being of "exceptional quality," which they say, "suggests a high diamond grade." (If Mr. Fipke has ever seen an indicator mineral with even a hint of inferior quality, he has kept quiet about it -- and he has been a chatty Cathy for decades about indicator minerals and their chemistry.)
Unfortunately, progress has been glacial in the promotional and explorational senses, as Metalex says only that the "application for the mining right is still under way." In other words, nearly three years into the program, the company is still plodding along with phase I of its five-phase option agreement. Stay tuned, just do not hold your breath.

[irinka37]

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[Matteo1234]

Pappy.Illiminite indicators = Scandy. The Candy thats dandy. Trades 4 X the price of Randy. Thats Dandy and not too Sandy. Stayhard