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by Will Purcell

The critical and specialty minerals box score for Tuesday was a fantastic 136-37-137 as the TSX Venture Exchange surged 48 points to 957. Speaking of surges, a Nevada lithium explorer, Surge Battery Metals Inc. (NILI), added 4.5 cents to 58.5 cents on 2.8 million shares. The company is currently beavering away on its Nevada North deposit, where it expects an updated resource estimate within a month.

Adam Lundin and Dr. William Lamb's Lucara Diamond Corp. (LUC) lost one cent to 24 cents on 238,000 shares. The company said late yesterday that it has closed the placement of its $350-million (U.S.) senior secured bond issue. The five-year bonds bear interest at 12.5 per cent per year, payable in quarterly instalments, which works out to about $43.75-million (U.S.) per year.

Lucara will use $220-million (U.S.) of the new cash to fully repay its existing $220-million (U.S.) senior secured project finance facilities with its previous lending syndicate. And the other $130-million (U.S.), you ask? Well, a chunk of it -- roughly $87.5-million (U.S.) will go into a dedicated debt service retention account covering two years of interest on the bonds. The rest will go to support the continued development of the underground expansion of the company's Karowe mine in Botswana.

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