This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Wednesday was a weak 65-92-153 as the TSX Venture Exchange fell eight points to 638. Eira Thomas and Ken Armstrong's North Arrow Minerals Inc. (NAR) added one cent to 13 cents on 63,000 shares.

Sagging rough diamond prices prompted North Arrow to mothball its diamond projects a few years ago, allowing it to pursue lithium in Canada's North. Then, slumping lithium prices late last year prodded the company to sell off the lithium projects to chase gold in Botswana. If you just tuned back in and took a quick glance at the company's stock price for the first time in a year, you might think North Arrow is holding up well -- but then you would have missed the 1:10 rollback completed late last summer. And so, while the gold hunt goes on, North Arrow is hedging its bets by clinging to its three main diamond prospects.

Naujaat, on Melville peninsula in central Nunavut, is the flagship of North Arrow's leaky diamond flotilla. The company holds a 60-per-cent interest in the project with Australia-based Burgundy Diamond Mines Ltd. owning the rest. Burgundy, as the name coincidentally suggests, is a fan of coloured diamonds, and the Q1-4 kimberlite complex at Naujaat is home to a low-grade population of orange and yellow fancy gems that might have a healthy size distribution profile.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS