D. Grenville Thomas's North Arrow Minerals Inc. (TSXV-NAR) has made Canada's newest diamond discovery at the Pikoo project in central eastern Saskatchewan. North Arrow tested a 209.7 kg sample of drill core from the PK150 kimberlite, which has returned 745 diamonds larger than the 0.106 mm sieve size, including 23 diamonds larger than the 0.85 mm sieve size, according to a company news release this morning.
Read: North Arrow Announces Canada's Newest Diamond Discovery At The Pikoo Diamond Project, Saskatchewan.
Today's discovery at Pikoo suggests potential for larger stones and more kimberlites on the 33,000+ ha property, North Arrow IR Man Nick Thomas (No Relation to Mr. D. Grenville) explained by phone earlier. "We have yet to find the source of the indicator minerals at Pikoo... It's not a very large body yet. As a standalone discovery, it needs more work. But it's an exciting first step."
North Arrow caught our attention because its Chairman, Mr. D. Grenville Thomas, is well known in Canada's diamond industry as founder and past Chairman of Aber Resources (now Dominion Diamond Corporation), which discovered the Diavik Diamond Mine. Mr. Thomas is a 2009 Canadian Hall of Fame Inductee, as well as the PDAC's 1999 Bill Dennis Prospector of the Year Award winner. His daughter, Ms. Eira Thomas, a veteran diamond mining executive in her own right, is an advisor to North Arrow. Ken Armstrong is the company's President and CEO, with Barbara Kupsch, formerly with Stornaway Diamonds, managing field programs, according to IR man Nick Thomas, who also joined from Stornaway. William Lamb, CEO of Lucara Diamond Corp, recently joined the company's board of directors.
North Arrow's shares were rolled back 10:1 earlier this year, leaving the company with approximately 42 million shares outstanding. NAR closed at $.60 Monday, up 53.8% on the day on on 332k shares volume, giving the company a market cap of approximately $25 million, and an enterprise value of $19 million. Lukas Lundin's Zebra Holdings & Investments owns 28.8% of North Arrow, with Mr. Gren Thomas holding 19.37% of the shares outstanding, according to data compiled by INK Research.
"Pikoo is not yet our main project," says Nick Thomas. $3.5 million of the company's approximately $6 million cash position is already committed to conduct a larger sample program at North Arrow's Qilalugaq project in Nunavet.
Back at Pikoo, North Arrow has fulfilled their obligation to earn 80% from JV partner Stornaway Diamond Corp., however Stornaway has 60 days to decide whether they can buy back 20% from North Arrow for approximately $4.5 million.
A webcast with North Arrow CEO Ken Armstrong will be on the company's web site soon, Nick Thomas says. http://www.northarrowminerals.com/s/news_releases.asp
"Now we have to stand back, look at our data, and see where we can find other Kimberlites."
North Arrow is an extremely risky early stage exploration company. I bought a small speculative position in North Arrow today for trading purposes and do not recommend you follow my lead. This is not investment advice. All facts are to be verified by the reader and always do your own due diligence.