Diamond Rose shares soared 188 per cent after the company discovered minerals that indicate it may have discovered the source of some alluvial diamonds it found in
The Sydney company, chaired by Pnina Feldman – sister of Australian mining magnate, Joe Gutnick – said it is now confident it has found at least one diamond source in a desert region in the north of Western Australia.
Diamond Rose shares surged 6.5c to 12c with about 8.5 million shares changing hands.
Faith in diamonds – and the Rebbe
The Australian Jewish News,
It’s been a rocky three years for Pnina Feldman’s Diamond Rose mining company.
After a glittering launch at the Australian Stock Exchange which saw the company’s 20-cent shares rocket to $1.75, investor confidence evaporated, shares slumped to less than half the original price and the company name has been dragged into share-rigging allegations currently before the courts.
But the discovery of four possibly diamond-rich kimberlite pipes at its Upper Beta Creek project in the North Kimberley region of Western Australia has seen the share price recovering to trade at a six-month high of 17.5 cents, raising the possibility of Rebbetzin Feldman realizing her dream of becoming a major gemstone producer, and thereby spelling the end of Yeshiva College’s perennial cash-flow problems.
“You can say mazal tov when you’re pregnant, you can say mazal tov at the first ultra-sound, at the birth, and again at the bris,” Rebbetzin Feldman told the Australian Jewish News. “Every one of these phrases is a source of joy and excitement. We’re at the stage where we’re well and truly pregnant.
Like any pregnancy, however, the result is by no means certain, but it is full of promise. “I hope Hashem didn’t bring me to this point just to let me down again; He wouldn’t be so mean, surely! We have been trough a lot of ups and downs and I would have liked to get there earlier, but I’m not complaining.”
The first item of good news came three weeks ago with the announcement that a kimberlite pipe source – the type of rock which “hosts” diamonds – had been found on analysing 13 samples extracted from the company’s 546 square kilometers of tenements. Then last week, three of another 12 samples came up trumps – and there are another 54 samples to be analysed in the coming month.
In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange, Rebbetzin Feldman said: “Diamond Rose NL is confident that at least four kimberlite bodies have been located. These bodies are within 10 kilometers of each other which, when confirmed through imminent follow up drilling program, will constitute a new kimberlite cluster in the north
This represents a “major break-through” for the company as it now believes that it has located a source for the diamonds found in creeks and loose surface deposits in the area. And its geologists expect that drilling will find the pipes to be relatively large “because the geological setting of its tenements alloes for large sections of preserved diatremes”, whose presence closer to the earth’s surface shows that when the diamonds were formed they cooled quickly and so were less likely to dissolve into the surrounding rock.
“Finding the pipes is like finding a needle in a haystack,” she continued. “There are only five located sites in the country and only 15 diamond mines in the world. The Argyle mine is the largest in the world, and that’s located in the same general area as our tenements.
“I asked our geologist – who was involved in the team that let to the discovery of the Argyle – whether our find could rival the Argyle; she said on one pipe no, on three or four maybe’. We will not know exactly what we have until we drill into the pipes and see how many diamonds there are. But I’m hoping that it’s a world-class discovery. The odds are that it could be because the pipes are large and the area we’re in has produced very nice gem-quality diamonds.”
Should the drilling planned this year realize the potential, it will give birth to a substantial injection of funds into
Rebbetzin Feldman, whose brother is mining magnate Rabbi Jospeh Gutnick, said: “What’s kept me going, firstly, is the faith and belief that I’m going to be successful because of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s blessings to my family. I just believe that whatever the Rebbe says happens eventually. God may be a bit slow, but He gets there!
“Secondly, the motivation has been t a major supporter of the Yeshiva and Chabad houses. I just felt that I couldn’t give up because the purpose was too important. Money alone would not have been a sufficient motivator if it was just for me. Money is not that important to me – otherwise I would not have married a rabbi!”
Pnina’s pipe dream come true
The Australian
Shares in Diamond Rose mare than doubled at the end of the week on news the controversial company had made “mjor breakthrough” in its diamond exploration program in the
The tightly held Diamond Rose stock jumped 8.5c to close at 14c after chairperson Pnina Feldman told shareholders the company’s laboratory had identified “weathered grains of kimberlite which indicate the presence of at least one kimberlite pipe” at the company’s Upper Beta Creek project.
“Diamond Rose’s team is confident that it has now located at least one pipe.” Mrs Feldman said in a statement.
“It is anticipated that pipes in Diamond Rose’s area will be relatively large because the geological setting of its tenements allows for large section of preserved diatremes.”
Alluvial diamonds had been located in the tenements in creeks but the “breakthrough” needed was to find the kimberlite pipe source of sources which hosted the diamonds, Mrs Feldman said.
The find is the latest development in the colourful history of the Sydney-based gemstone explorer, which is controlled by Mrs Feldman, sister of mining magnate Mr Joseph Gutmick.
Diamond Rose evolved out of Mrs Feldman’s desire to find the 12 gemstones of the breastplate worn by the High Priest of the
The float was fully subscribed and most shares were grabbed by 20 major shareholders, including heavy hitters such as American billionaire financier Mr George Soros.
Diamond Rose shares have traded as low as 4c this year.
Resource Stocks Magazine February/March 2001 By Sinead Mangan
Diamond Rose chief executive Pnina Feldman describes her quest for diamonds as a labour of love. Her latest deal has seen BHP farm into the prospective Upper Beta Creek project.
One-time headmistress, sister of Joseph Gutnick and executive director of junior explorer Diamond Rose, Pnina Feldman, could hardly be accused of not having strength of spirit.
Like many diamond explorers, she’s a risk-taker. Take Diamond Rose’s cash position – it’s skirting dangerously close to running dry.
According to Feldman, the New South Wales-based company has less than half a million dollars in the bank, but she’s willing to take the risk of pushing ahead with exploration this quarter in the hope that her field team turns up something special in the sparkler department.
“Considering how much money has been spent by other companies to find diamonds I think we’re doing pretty well.” Feldman said. “diamond Rose has spent $10 million over two years and we’ve been lucky in finding what we believe to be 21 (kimberlite pipes). Why wouldn’t we be lucky in the finding of diamonds?”
More than three years ago, Feldman was the toast of the mining industry. When Diamond Rose launched on the Australian Stock Exchange its fortunes soared – the 20c shares hit $1.75 on the first day of trading. Feldman made the Business Review Weekly rich list in 1997, which estimated her personal wealth at $80 million.
These days things aren’t looking so rosy. Diamond Rose’s shares are trading around 9c. but Feldman, the eternal optimist, believes the joint venture Diamond Rose recently struck with BHP over the Upper Beta Creek project in
Employing its Falcon technology, BHP has flown over Upper Beta Creek to try to pinpoint the exact location of the kimberlite pipes on the property. “We believe we are at the centre of a cluster and that companies like Striker Resources and what have you are on the periphery,” Feldman said.
Under the terms of the joint venture, BHP will manage and fund the Upper Beta Creek project through until bankable feasibility. After completion of a bankable feasibility study, Diamond Rose will contribute its equity share (50-50) of the project. An additional 9% of Upper Beta Creek can be earned by BHP upon the decision to develop a mine.
“I wasn’t particularly keen to do a deal with anybody unless I though it would be of benefit to the company because I am used to slugging it out,” Feldman said. “But the deal alleviates the whole worry of me having to (fully) finance the project.”
The issue of funding bears heavily on Feldman’s mind. Her private companies, mainly through Vageta Pty Ltd, hold about 51% of Diamond Rose.
“It (Vageta) is a privately financed company, but that’s my husband’s department,” Feldman said. “Whatever I’ve managed to finance and whatever I’ve managed to achieve in Diamond Rose initially and the takeover of Striker was due to his contacts. I don’t know these people.”
Diamond Rose will again rely on the kindness of strangers when it draws on a $4 million convertible note facility provided by Vageta. According to Diamond Rose’s annual report this could leas to an increased working capital of up to $28 million when coupled with the exercise of all attaching options.
The company’s overseas backers in the past have included a George Soros’ investment fund, Mountain Side Holding, which still holds 1.45% stake in Diamond Rose, and members of the
Diamond Rose’s falling out with Striker in 1999 is still a sore point for Feldman. “It (the Striker deal) proved to be a disappointment and a distraction rather than an enhancement,” she said. “I didn’t like the way things progressed with Striker once I got the money fro them.
“Things with Striker are okay now. It’s like family, it’s better when you’re separate.”
Working in the predominantly male world of mining has not worn down this mother of 11. “It’s being a CEO which is the challenge,” Feldman said. “I haven’t found being female inhibiting in any way. One thing I’ve had to learn is that business is business and anything goes.”