by Will Purcell

New Nadina Explorations Ltd., struggling on at 21 cents, plans a spring drill program to test some intriguing targets within Lac de Gras, says the company's head, Ellen Clements. The Monument property, once a favourite of her late husband, George Stewart, saw its biggest drill program so far this year. The work produced three new kimberlites, and one of the finds suggests New Nadina will have more success next year. Meanwhile, the company and its partners have sent over 2,200 kilograms of kimberlite off to the lab for diamond recovery.

The plan

Monument has been yielding new kimberlites regularly since Ms. Clements revived the play as a tribute to her late partner. She started as Mr. Stewart's bookkeeper nearly 30 years ago, and initially planning to turn the company over to someone else after he died in 2005. Instead, she kept the top job, figuring she knew best why Mr. Stewart thought the area 40 kilometres southwest of Diavik and Ekati could contain an economic deposit. He was not alone in that theory. New Nadina has two well-known partners, Dr. Stu Blusson and Dr. Chris Jennings.

One of the new kimberlite finds, Trio, provides encouragement for at least two other nearby targets. New Nadina picked the name because the drilled target was just one of three similar anomalies in the area, but it could not get to the other two this summer, as they lie under water.

The untested anomalies undoubtedly intrigue Dr. Jennings, as the former South African has long believed the best pipes lie within Lac de Gras. Since the summer of 2006, he and his wife, Jeanne Jennings, have been paying their 22-per-cent share of the costs out of their own pockets. Dr. Blusson is paying about one-fifth of the exploration costs through his Archon Minerals Ltd.

Ms. Clements said the partners drilled 3,500 metres in 38 holes over a five-week period and the bills are still drifting in. The cost of the program could approach $1-million, although the partners think the scale of the program allowed them to control the costs.

That is perhaps more important to Ms. Clements than to her well-heeled partners, as New Nadina would face dilution if it fails to come up with its share of the budget. So far, the company is keeping up, and it recently completed another private placement that fetched just over $750,000.

Nearly one-half of the kimberlite at the lab came from the Trio kimberlite, and some good diamond counts would boost interest in the spring drilling program. The partners will be testing about 300 kilograms of rock from Sparky, and 350 kilograms of material from Gemini, along with about 200 kilograms from each of Sonja and DD-39. The Genie kimberlite contributed 120 kilograms of rock.

The encouragement

Both Mr. Jennings and Dr. Blusson find encouragement in the diamond distribution patterns exhibited by the previously tested Monument pipes, led by the RIP and DD-17 pipes. The coarse size distribution could trump the modest stone tallies, but to prove the point, the partners will need larger samples.

Apparently, Dr. Blusson has convinced Ms. Clements that a mini-bulk test of at least one body is a worthy next step. New Nadina plans to collect a larger sample next year, once it gets the required permit. The size of such a test is likely to be between 10 and 50 tonnes, given New Nadina's modest treasury, but a larger test will yield a more reliable result.

So far, the Monument partners have tested 4.4 tonnes of kimberlite from RIP and DD-17. The rock contained 44 gems larger than a 0.85-millimetre sieve. The largest gem weighed 0.45 carat, and the entire parcel likely weighed nearly two carats, suggesting a sample grade of about 0.4 carat per tonne. A larger test could improve on the result.

New Nadina closed up a penny to 21 cents Friday on 10,000 shares.