Momentum Public Relations
Blog: June 4 2018
Diamonds Are Forever
Arctic Star Reports Positive Results in Finland: Best Diamond Results Found in Finland
Monster Diamonds found by Lucara
The surprising thing about diamonds is that people pay so much for them. The price was controlled for a very long time by De Beers which prevented too many diamonds from hitting the market at the same time to keep the price up.
De Beers also controlled diamond marketing and so is also responsible for that ubiquitous slogan, Diamonds are Forever.
The value of diamonds benefits from a superb marketing effort that has lasted for generations and convinced much of the global middle and upper classes that diamonds are the only way to express your love.
And then there is the lasting effect of Marilyn Munro singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” in the movie version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
For something which is really only valuable as an industrial cutting tool, diamonds have secured an emotional value that has captured and held the imagination for a very long time. Diamonds show no indication of losing the monetary value associated with them.
Over the recent past the diamond market has been in a bit of a doldrum as millennials with cash to burn look to other luxury items. This will probably become just a market blip lasting as long as it takes the marketing machine to get revved up again. Then again, that may not be necessary. In a January 8, 2018 report the CBC quoted diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky predicting that the price of rough diamonds will increase by as much as four percent this year.
Unlike copper, gold or silver which regularly go in and out of high demand and high value cycles, as a commodity diamonds just appear to sit there looking pretty with an almost constant value, going up or down in cost in the low single digits.
This year, 2018, may just go down in the history books as the monster year of enormous diamond finds. On April 26, 2018 Bloomberg News reported in a headline: Another Week and Another Huge Diamond Is Found in Botswana.
The story reports that Lucara Diamond has just discovered a 327 carat white diamond at its mine in Botswana, hard on the heels of discovering a 427 carat light brown one. In comparison, most diamonds used in jewelry are in the one to two carat range.
Last year, Lucara sold a 1,109 carat diamond, the second biggest so far discovered for US$53 million. Last year Lucara also sold an 813 carat diamond for US$63 million. Lucara is not alone. Gem Diamonds Ltd. discovered a 910 carat diamond in Lesotho this year that it has already sold for US$40 million.
Along their way to the marriage ceremony or engagement party diamonds took a detour when they became the preferred way of financing murder and mayhem in Africa. This stigma has been done away with by the development and continuing exploration of diamond fields in Canada and Russia.
If matters pan out those productive diamond fields will soon be joined by the Timantti Diamond Project in Finland. Canadian junior Arctic Star Exploration has assembled a dream team of diamond finders who believe that the diamond rich Russian pipes extend into Finland and recent exploration results back up this theory.
There is a certain amount of wisdom in adages and folk sayings. In mining there is the one that goes, “The best place to find a gold mine is next to a gold mine.” This can be followed up by saying that the best person to find a diamond mine is someone who has found one before. Arctic Star’s exploration team is run by two of the most experienced diamond finders now working. Among other discoveries Buddy Doyle found the Diavik diamond mine in Northern Canada and Roy Spencer discovered the Grib diamond mine in Russsia. Both are multi-billion dollar mines.
In an April 16, 2018 press release Arctic Star’s Vice-President of Exploration Buddy Doyle said, “We are greatly encouraged by the results, to date. So far every kimberlite we have discovered on the Timantti property has proven to be diamondiferous. We are particular pleased by the results from the Wolves, as demonstrated from table 3, these are the best diamond results to date ever reported from Finland, at least at this initial discovery phase. We look forward to adding to this as the diamond results from our drilling become available.”
Arctic Star has a 100% interest in the 243 hectare Timantti property and exclusive exploration rights for two years on a further 95,700 hectares. The Finnish property is in the same geological belt as both the Russian multi-billion dollar Grib and Lomonsov diamond mines. The company is well financed and just finished an over-subscribed private placement for more than a million dollars.
To further pique your interest in Arctic Star, the company is far from being a one trick pony. It has three more highly prospective diamond projects in the Canadian north, the Diagras project, a joint venture with Margaret Lake, located close to and in the same geological formations as the multi-billion dollar Diavik diamond mine, the 100% owned Stein Diamond Project which has six drill ready targets and Redemption, which is close to the two major discoveries, Ekati and Diavik, that sparked the Canadian diamond exploration rush.
Just for variety, along with its four diamond projects Arctic Star also has a rare earth elements project in British Columbia called Cap. One way or another the odds appear stacked in Arctic Star’s favour.