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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Wednesday was a ho-hum 74-76-160 as the TSX Venture Exchange rose fractionally to 813. Dr. Michael Gunning and Justin Daley's VR Resources Ltd. (VRR) rose one-half cent to 2.5 cents on 93,000 shares. The company completed the Howe Street hokey-pokey late last week -- a three-phase exploratory in-and-out promotional shuffle that marks the end of its Northway diamond project in Northern Ontario.

The first phase -- the big step in -- came three years ago, when a hole testing a curious anomaly northeast of a rare earth elements project hit kimberlite. That Northway pipe produced a few microdiamonds from three holes, propelling VR's stock as high as 33 cents in mid-2023. Of course, the hope and hype gave way to data and despair with the realization that the kimberlite was barely diamondiferous and was buried beneath 240 metres of sedimentary rock.

Phase II of the promotional dance came earlier this year, when the company's accountants impaired the Northway project by nearly $550,000 -- a polite way of saying it was written down to zero -- "because no additional expenditures, at this time, are planned." Nevertheless, VR said it was still holding the Northway property -- it just was not a current focus.

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