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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Monday was a weak 57-75-124. The TSX Venture Exchange fell six points to 818 while polished diamond prices rose 0.2 per cent. Peter Dasler's Canalaska Uranium Ltd. (CVV) gained one cent to 46 cents on 35,000 shares. The company has been quiet about how it might revive its Athabasca diamond project this year.

Eric Friedland and Tom Peregoodoff's Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. (PGD), unchanged at 18.5 cents on 14,000 shares, will plod ahead with its Botswanan diamond hunt again this year, with drilling possible on some prospective targets. While the company spent barely $500,000 in Botswana last year and it has yet to reveal a budget for the project this year, the project nevertheless remains a key part of Peregrine's exploration plans. Peregrine acquired the big project two years ago in a move that Mr. Peregoodoff, president and chief executive officer, deemed a significant milestone in the strategic development of the company. He said that the project was "one of the most compelling diamond exploration opportunities that I have seen in many years." (He meant other than Chidliak, Peregrine's main diamond exploration opportunity on Baffin Island.) Peregrine's pace on the six main Botswanan projects has been slow. It has spent less than $1.6-million so far on the 660,000-hectare project, and milestones -- even insignificant ones -- have been hard to come by.

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