Peregrine Diamonds: (Barely) buried treasure on Baffin Island

POSTED ON May 08, 2014 BY Tommy Humphreys
CATEGORY Peregrine Diamonds, Stories,

Peregrine Diamonds released its maiden resource estimate for Chidliak Wednesday, and it sparkled.

The diamond exploration company led by Eric Friedland reported an NI 43-101 compliant inferred resource of 7.47 million carats of diamonds in 2.89 million tonnes in its CH-6 kimberlite pipe, to a depth of 250 metres. The kimberlite is open at depth. More tonnage below 250 metres in CH-6 as well as in two other kimberlites, CH-7 and CH-44, has been targeted for exploration.

Diamonds recovered from the CH-6 400-tonne bulk sample. The largest is an 8.87-carat gem valued at $36,000. (Peregrine Diamonds photo)

At an average diamond value of $213/carat, that adds up to about $1.6 billion in value for just the first 250 metres of a single kimberlite, one of seven that have “economic potential,” according to Peregrine.

News of a resource estimate in the billions based on high-value diamonds in a rich kimberlite pipe just below surface – albeit in the middle of nowhere – resulted in a 6.5-cent (16%) gain for the stock. Peregrine shares can be volatile, as the chart below shows, and holding them frustrating, as I can attest. If past patterns hold, the stock will drift down until further news that moves the needle.

1-year chart for PGD (Yahoo Finance)

Here’s the new corporate presentation. One interesting nugget in the list of significant shareholders – below Robert Friedland at 18.6% and Eric at 16% – is De Beers at 2.3%. Given the history, I didn’t realize the former granddaddy of diamonds continued to hold any position.

In a conversation with John Kaiser at the Cambridge House resource show in January, the Peregrine fan told me he wouldn’t be surprised to see De Beers eventually take another run at Peregrine. However, the list of potential suitors is long, thanks in large part to the Canadian disruption of the De Beers cartel.

Disclosure: I own Peregrine Diamonds shares because I think Chidliak will become a diamond mine. However, I don’t know if or when that will occur, and financing a mine could be very dilutive to existing shareholders. The stock can be very volatile. Please read my disclaimer.

Diamond partners Peregrine, De Beers no longer dancing | World of Mining

Chasing the carat: The Friedlands go diamond-hunting | World of Mining

Tommy Humphreys

Tommy Humphreys, 30, is an entrepreneur, investor and writer from Vancouver, Canada. He founded CEO.CA, a popular junior mining and Canadian finance blog, in 2012. He has been the president of Pacific Website Company Inc., a private marketing and web development company, since 2007. Tommy has authored articles for Globe and Mail, Financial Post and others. He speaks at select conferences. Reach him by email: tommy@ceo.ca. Follow him on Twitter: @TommyHump More →

Twitter: @tommyhump

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Tommy Humphreys

Twitter: @tommyhump

tommyhump@gmail.com

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One thought on “Peregrine Diamonds: (Barely) buried treasure on Baffin Island”

Hope Diamond says:

May 8, 2014 at 6:30 am

I believe PGD has to prove up a larger resource before we can see the potential for an economic development. The capital costs to develop an operation would be very high and look at the dilution SWY is facing in order to proceed.

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Peregrine Diamonds: (Barely) buried treasure on Baffin Island

One thought on “Peregrine Diamonds: (Barely) buried treasure on Baffin Island”

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