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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Thursday was a weak 84-102-124 as the TSX Venture Exchange fell two points to 632. Dean Taylor's Diamcor Mining Inc. (DMI) was among the unchanged, closing at 15.5 cents on 255,000 shares.

It continues to be two steps forward and a quick leap rearward for Diamcor at its Krone-Endora at Venetia diamond project in South Africa. The company has spent a decade trial mining the alluvial and eluvial deposit, during which it has been trying to improve its performance through a series of equipment and operating upgrades. Now, while the mining improvements are showing solid gains, South Africa's infrastructure woes -- primarily the supply of electricity from Eskom, the national power company -- are limiting Diamcor's progress.

Diamcor sold 1,466.12 carats for just under $295,000 (U.S.) in its first sale of the quarter, an average of $201 (U.S.) per carat. Mr. Taylor, president and chief executive officer, says that the company has recovered additional diamonds -- roughly 1,500 carats apparently -- during the period, but they are being held on hand for later sale. When is the question: Mr. Taylor says that the on-hand diamonds will either be sold with additional production during the quarter in the second and final sale of the period, or held over for sale in the coming quarter.

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