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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Thursday was a poor 47-67-151. The TSX Venture Exchange fell six points to 965 while polished diamond prices slipped 0.1 per cent. Nicholas Houghton's True North Gems Inc. (TGX) gained one-half cent to 11.5 cents on 602,000 shares in the afterglow of a deal that could cover the construction cost of its proposed $38-million Aappaluttoq ruby and sapphire mine in western Greenland. The additional $11-million in investment and loans is on top of a $23-million investment offered by the Greenland-based backer. Paul Gill's Lomiko Metals Inc. (LMR) gained one-half cent to 7.5 cents on 545,000 shares. Lomiko has been promoting both ends of the graphite story, touting its Quatre Milles graphite deposit in Quebec one day and its investment in high-end graphene research the next. Lomiko's electrocardiograph chart shows investors are interested, but skeptical.

Lucas Lundin's Lucara Diamond Corp. (LUC), up two cents to $2.43 on 572,000 shares, has two new exploration properties in Botswana. The two prospects are near the company's rich Karowe mine and each hosts diamondiferous kimberlites. The BK-2 licence, 30 kilometres east of Karowe, centres on the BK-2 pipe that Dr. William Lamb, CEO, says "has seen episodic exploration" since its discovery nearly 50 years ago. (In other words, the results were sufficiently disappointing that the work was halted, but good enough that other groups took up the challenge years later.) The impetus for Lucara's interest is a 134-kilogram batch of drill core that yielded 800 diamonds years ago, including six that sat on a 0.85-millimetre sieve, suggesting a potential diamond content between 0.25 and 0.5 carat per tonne. Further, it is likely that the high microdiamond count was the result of a larger diamond breaking apart during the test. Lucara's other new licence, Block E, is 15 kilometres north of Karowe and hosts four known kimberlites, but with less promotability. Two, AK-13 and AK-14, appear to be modest dikes. The other two, AK-11 and AK-12, are more substantial bodies, most likely pipes about 2.5 hectares at the surface. Of those, AK-12 appears to be diamondiferous but there is no data to indicate the potential grade. Dr. Lamb says Lucara will start work on both licences "as soon as practical." The only cause for delay will be permits and logistics as Lucara is certainly flush with cash, thanks to Karowe.

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