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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Wednesday was an upbeat 56-47-146. The TSX Venture Exchange rose two points to 942 while polished diamond prices held steady.

George Read and Kenneth MacNeill's Shore Gold Inc. (SGF), unchanged at 16 cents on 72,000 shares, will focus on "project permitting and development finance" this year. Unfortunately, there is nothing new regarding Shore's plan to build a $2-billion Star-Orion South kimberlite mine in central Saskatchewan. The company has been twisting in the wind since Newmont Mining Corp. of Canada Ltd. (NMC: $33.43) wrote off its $200-million investment in the project. Newmont told investors four years ago it stopped participating because of "geologic results and potential project economics" -- in other words the play produced disappointing results and had a bleak future -- but Shore's faithful kept hoping Newmont was bluffing. Last year Shore said one prospective option for financing reached an advanced stage, but the secret supporter backed away because of "current world economic uncertainties." (It seems curious an investor willing to risk $2-billion on a project fraught with mining uncertainties would be scared off by the threat of a European debt crisis.) Undaunted, many of Shore's faithful, some of whom still expect Newmont to return, believe the would-be investor was Rio Tinto. That seems a stretch since Rio reportedly wants out of diamonds and its other marginal resource projects. Meanwhile, Shore's permitting process inches forward glacially. Shore filed the original paperwork three years ago and expected the review process would wrap up early in 2012, but Mr. Read and crew have just answered the latest in a series of environmental questions.

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