Brazilian Share Discussion Threads

[wayoutwest] 16/5/2005 16:22

Article featuring Brazilian Diamonds:

[wayoutwest] 16/5/2005 10:29

Interesting article on diamond mining in Canada:

[kermit] 13/5/2005 09:18

I have.

I sold out after adding on the recent placing.

The management play right into the market makers hands by placing stock with them so that when demand come they can fill it from their little booty and then move the price back down.

I am so sick and tired of these silly games that allow Market makers to be allowed a free reign on selling stock and then moving the price back down waiting for more stale bulls to appear. and not react to genuine market demand.

This one is for little old ladys who have ten year to wait until they die and want to own a piece of a diamond mine in brazil.

[mikehardman] 04/4/2005 13:24

results lossy (it is an explorer, after all) but cash position considerably strengthened since FY-end and Canastra-1 will be in production in 2005, and always scope for +ve news from other exploration

[airymatt] 12/3/2005 09:59

Closed 60-64cts in Canada.... do we break down again from this level????

[ianwc] 08/3/2005 22:34

Brokers Crumbs
Date: March 09, 2005

Westhouse Reckons that Drilling By Brazilian Diamonds On Kimberlite Targets Could Produce Exciting Results This Year.

Robyn Storer, mining consultant at Westhouse Securities, has produced a very comprehensive review of Brazilian Diamonds. The recommendation is BUY which is understandable as Westhouse Securities acts as financial adviser and broker to the company, but the review is worth reading by anyone interested in diamond exploration, particularly in Brazil. The focus of this company is exploration for the source rocks of the alluvial diamond deposits in Minas Gerais. Brazilian Diamonds has a dominant position in this diamond rich province, holding around 90 per cnet of all prospective ground which includes more than 140 kimberlites and kimberlitic occurrences.

Last year Brazilian Diamonds acquired an entire diamond exploration database covering the Serra da Canastra region of Brazil from De Beers . The price was paid in shares so De Beers now has a 3 per cent holding in the company and has an option to take it up to 5 per cent. Sufficient for the diamond giant to take a constructive interest in Brazilian Diamonds, but not enough for it to start getting bossy. Nor does it give De Beers any right to market subsequent production of diamonds. The Serra da Canastra database covers approximately 460,000 hectares centred around the Brazilian Diamonds' diamondiferous Canastra 1 kimberlite. It represents the accumulated results of more than 30 years of exploration by De Beers in the area and will accelerate the company's exploration efforts significantly. De Beers is also providing details about 35 known kimberlite occurrences and the results of ground geophysics within the region.

This database complements a significant one already acquired by Brazilian Diamonds when it bought De Beers' Brazilian subsidiary Mineração do Sul a couple of years ago. That acquisition also included 40,000 hectares of mineral claims in the area and the Canastra 1 kimberlite for which licenses are being sought to commence trial mining. Unfortunately there have been delays in obtaining these licences from the Brazilian Government as it is deliberating on the area of influence surrounding the nearby National Park. The brokers remain confident that there will be a happy outcome to this and that development and exploration will proceed on Canastra 8 as well. In fact they go as far as to predict that Canastra 1 could become Brazil's first kimberlite diamond mine.

They also think that a major diamondiferous kimberlite may be found on the San Antonio project. The target for this has been narrowed down to a small area in the San Antonio basin by an extensive indicator mineral sampling programme and it seems quite possible that any kimberlites found in this area could be the source of alluvial diamonds in the basin. A feasibility study for large scale alluvial diamond mining on the property is also underway and this is financed by the company's joint venture partners, CODEMIG and Rio Novo Mining. CODEMIG is the state owned mining development organisation and Rio Novo is a wholly owned subsidiary of Andrade Gutierrez, one of Brazil's largest civil engineering firms, so the company moves in the right circles. If this feasibility study proves positive Westhouse reckons that alluvial diamond mining could contribute C$3.5 million/year to cash flow starting in 2007.

Brazilian Diamonds has quite a record for acquiring useful databases as it obtained data and licenses covering the Santo Antonio do Bonito drainage through the purchase of Cobre Sul from South Atlantic Resources in 2002 and data and licenses in the Abaeté drainage acquired with the purchase of Canabrava's subsidiary Parima in 2003. The data set for the Abaeté drainage includes data accumulated by Teck Cominco and Canabrava over more than 10 years of exploration activity.

Drilling is currently underway at the Tucano kimberlite project which is less than an hour's drive from the company's mineral processing laboratory at Patos de Minas. The first drill hole intersected kimberlite material only 2 kms below surface and abundant kimberlitic garnets, chromites and chrome disposides have been reported in dark green weathered kimberlite core. In January Brazilian Diamonds reported microdiamonds in two phases of kimberlite in the first drillhole. Two more holes have been drilled to the north and south of this hole , but they have yet to be tested for microdiamonds. Investors should keep a sharp eye out for these results.

[airymatt] 01/3/2005 16:31

Canada closed at 61cts yesterday... now quoted 50-54cts on a vol of 6600shs with no news(yet?)....

[airymatt] 28/2/2005 09:19

very quirky !!! I thought this would have been marked up more based on Canadas close on friday..

[airymatt] 27/2/2005 14:16

Based on current cross e/r ... should open 26p ish mid price.(nb The dealing spreads here in UK are appx 10%.. in Canada closed 61/62ct = 1.6% !!)

[maffs0] 27/2/2005 13:01

Interesting rise in Canad share price on Friday- we should see a mark-up on Monday morning. Can't find any news to explain it though.

maffs0.

[robertslj] 15/2/2005 17:01

Hi all... I've followed the Hidefield trail to this stock..

I'm tempted in based on the management alone, but can anyone give a brief summary of the upsides and downsides to BDY? What tangible assets do we have?

[mirandaj] 04/2/2005 10:58

A little piece of history:


Slaves at diamond diggings, supply of Brazilian diamond mines, export of gems to India
The Brazilian mines, which were practically only river diggings, were originally government property and were worked mainly by slaves. The slaves, while constantly watched and severely punished if detected, still managed to secrete and steal a large percentage of all the diamonds found. The Brazilian diamonds were practically all small stones, very few being above fifteen or twenty carats in the rough. Some were very fine, while others were quite poor. The supply from Brazil at first frightened the Indian miners and reports were spread that the Brazilian stones were simply the refuse of the Indian mines shipped to Brazil. The Portuguese of Brazil, however, effectually turned the tables by shipping their diamonds to India, where they were sold as Indian stones at the market price. The height of the Brazilian mines appears to have been reached about the years 1861 to 1867. During that period there were shipped from Diamantina about ten million dollars' worth of rough diamonds.

[rambutan2] 03/2/2005 13:35

from the dmnd thread..
energyi - 3 Feb'05 - 08:03 - 37 of 40

good news out on FDI this morning.
in case you missed this on BDY...

Brazilian Diamonds finds Brazilian hope

2005-02-02 15:19 ET - Street Wire ... by Will Purcell

Kenneth Judge and Stephen Fabian's Brazilian Diamonds Ltd. has some intriguing diamond counts from its Tucano-1 kimberlite in Brazil. The company has several gem prospects in the country, including the Canastra-1 pipe that produced an intriguing diamond grade and value when De Beers worked the project several years earlier. Canastra and Santo Antonio do Bonito are still priorities for the company, but the Tucano result offers hope for the new project as well.

The Tucano counts

Brazilian Diamonds drilled its first Tucano target late last year, intersecting weathered kimberlite just below the surface. The company sent about 67 kilograms of rock back to Canada for microdiamond recovery, and the material delivered 182 microdiamonds. That worked out to about 2,700 stones per tonne.

That is often enough to attract the market's notice, although it usually takes toutable numbers of larger diamonds to truly wow speculators. The Tucano-1 body did not appear to have a favourable diamond size distribution, but investors were in a buying mood nevertheless, as the company's shares jumped 14 cents on the news, hitting an intraday high of 64 cents.

Most of the Tucano diamonds were tiny, falling through a 0.106-millimetre screen, which is the minimum cut-off used by many explorers. Only 76 stones were large enough to sit on that sieve and just one of the diamonds clung to a 0.30-millimetre mesh. That proportion works out to about 1.3 per cent, which is at least an order of magnitude smaller than what many intriguing Canadian deposits delivered over the past few years.

Another clear sign of the modest size distribution at Tucano-1 is the weight of the microdiamond parcel. The 182 stones weighed a cumulative 0.00287 carat, which suggests a microdiamond grade of about 0.04 carat per tonne. Based on the rapid decline in diamond counts in the larger sieve sizes and the modest weight, the prospects at Tucano-1 seem dim.

The encouragement

The results nevertheless offer encouragement for Brazilian Diamonds that extends beyond the possibilities of that first find. The company's consultant, Dr. Harrison Cookenboo, said that Tucano-1 was intriguing, but it was not the company's top priority. There are some other targets in the region that the company thinks have better prospects. "Tucano-1 was the one that was farthest along and the best for drilling," Dr. Cookenboo said.

The initial interest in the Tucano area stems from some promising mineral chemistry. Dr. Cookenboo said that Brazilian Diamonds had come up with garnet chemistry that he thought was pretty good, as were the results of analysis of the chromites and other indicators. "The signature is characteristic for this part of Brazil," Dr. Cookenboo said, adding that he believed it pointed to diamond-bearing sources. At least part of that belief stems from the results at Canastra-1, which delivered comparable mineral chemistry.

That gave Brazilian Diamonds high hopes for its Tucano play going into the current drill program. The counts now add to its hope. Dr. Cookenboo said that it was a good sign for the project that the Tucano-1 target was a kimberlite, and the fact that it kicked out some good microdiamond tallies added encouragement for other targets in the area. "It is not so much this one, but what it suggests the others should have," Dr. Cookenboo said.

Dr. Cookenboo stated that there were two other magnetic anomalies within about 500 metres of Tucano-1, lying in two different directions. Those targets are now priorities for Brazilian Diamonds. He added that the company had already drilled an auger hole into one of the features. That hole intersected rock that appears to be weathered kimberlite, at a depth of eight metres, although a formal determination has not yet been made.

The confirmation of a second Tucano kimberlite would improve expectations that Brazilian Diamonds has a cluster of pipes on its project. That would bode well for the project beyond the current crop of geophysical anomalies, as the company has not yet found what could eventually be the most intriguing features in the area.

Dr. Cookenboo said that the microdiamond haul was promising as the company had come up with superior mineral chemistry elsewhere on the project. Finding drillable targets that could be the source of that mineral promise will also be a key part of the Tucano play over the next year.

Although it is the potential of the play that Brazilian Diamonds finds most intriguing, Dr. Cookenboo is not ready to write off Tucano-1 as uneconomic. "We would have preferred to see some bigger diamonds," he said, but added that it was possible that the kimberlite could support a modest population of macrodiamonds.

Even if Tucano-1 does host limited numbers of commercial diamonds, it would be a pleasant surprise if the grade was sufficient to support a mine. Still, Dr. Cookenboo held out a ray of hope. He said that the discovery was in an industrial area, and mining costs in the South American country would be very low.

Just how low those costs might be is uncertain. The company has not yet completed any work on that side of the equation, and Dr. Cookenboo was unable to hazard a guess about the hypothetical operating costs of a mine. Still, he dropped a few hints, suggesting that the operating costs of a mine should be able to match the $20-per-tonne figure bandied about for the Saskatchewan play, "less quite a bit."

There is no doubt that labour costs would be lower, and Dr. Cookenboo suggested that part of the cost would be about 10 per cent of the comparative costs in Canada. As well, a mine would be close to infrastructure, unlike the current Canadian mines, which are in the remote North.

He has a point. Rio Tinto's Paracatu gold mine has an average grade of about 0.65 gram per tonne. That works out to about $8 (U.S.) per tonne, which is far below what most explorers consider an economic threshold. There are some special twists that make Paracatu unusual, even for Brazil, but the mine does help set the range of economic possibilities for a diamond mine.

The area promise

Dr. Cookenboo termed the diamond counts "an exciting little start," but Brazilian Diamonds thinks the results also have pleasing implications that extend beyond the bounds of the Tucano play. The company has high hopes for its Santo Antonio do Bonito project, and that play could ultimately become the key project.

Early in 2001, Brazilian Diamonds picked up about 7,600 hectares of ground along the Santo Antonio do Bonito River, which empties into the Paranaiba River. Both rivers have been prolific producers of alluvial gems though the years. The gravels along the Santo Antonio do Bonito River yielded at least nine diamonds weighing more than 300 carats, including the 727-carat Presidente Vargas diamond.

Several kimberlite bodies occur along the river valley, but none of them produced diamonds in significant quantities. Still, many of the existing kimberlites received only a quick look and others went untested. As well, there are at least 20 more anomalies that are yet to be drilled.

Brazilian Diamonds found some promising indicator mineral anomalies on its Santo Antonio do Bonito property, but it has yet to produce drill targets that could be the source of the promotable chemistry. Dr. Cookenboo said that coming up with geophysical targets that match the indicator mineral finds was the next logical step on the play.

The Canastra-1 pipe is still the most advanced Brazilian Diamonds project. The kimberlite was a De Beers project until it passed it on to Brazilian Diamonds in 2002. The diamond giant processed about 20,000 tonnes of material from the body, coming up with a grade of about one-quarter of a carat per tonne. The company arrived at a more conservative 0.12-carat-per-tonne grade for a reserve of nearly two million tonnes.

That is decidedly modest, but the diamonds had a healthy value. The initial estimates pegged the Canastra-1 diamonds at about $125 (U.S.) per carat and the rock value would likely sit at something just over $20 (U.S.) per tonne. That figure did not excite De Beers, but it is intriguing to Dr. Cookenboo and Brazilian Diamonds.

The players

Dr. Cookenboo began learning his trade in North Carolina, but he ended up in British Columbia by the time he completed his doctorate. A sedimentologist by training, he got his diamond start while working on a coal project in Northern British Columbia as a part of his thesis. Some of his work involved garnet geochemistry and Dr. Cookenboo assisted a student intrigued with the developing diamond hunt.

In the early 1990s, Dr. Cookenboo went to work for Canamera Geological Ltd., which was a big player in the early days of the Canadian diamond hunt. Canamera participated in several projects, including the Gahcho Kue project at Kennady Lake. That gave Dr. Cookenboo ample opportunity to make the transition from coal to diamonds. Dr. Cookenboo struck out on his own as a consultant in 2002, and diamonds continue to figure prominently in his work.

Mr. Fabian, the president of Brazilian Diamonds, also had a start in coal. A mining engineer by trade, he worked on base metal and coal projects in his native Australia, but he pursued a career as a mining analyst starting in the late 1980s. He moved out on his own in 1996, forming Rock Capital Partners Ltd., and became president of Brazilian Diamonds in 1999. The company had a gold focus at the time, but the former coal man moved it into the search for gems.

Shareholders seem hopeful the move will pay off, but Brazilian's stock shed four cents on Tuesday, closing at 55 cents.

[rambutan2] 28/1/2005 09:46

hopefully its just the start for the year...
Mr. Kenneth Judge, Chairman of Brazilian Diamonds said 'The discovery today of
microdiamonds in the Tucano 1 kimberlite body marks a very significant moment in
the history of Brazilian Diamonds. Over the past three years the Company has
pursued a strategy of acquiring strategic mineral licenses and exploration
databases and upgrading the Patos de Minas laboratory while moving from the
original strategy of alluvial production towards hard rock kimberlite
exploration. The internationally respected technical team now assembled in
Brazil under the leadership of Stephen Fabian, with significant input from our
geological consultant Dr. Harrison Cookenboo, has now achieved results which
demonstrate the value and prospectivity of this hard work.

Brazilian Diamonds has assembled a very large portfolio of licenses which are
highly prospective for kimberlites with more than 140 already identified. With
the infrastructure we now have in place we can rapidly evaluate and rank each of
these targets for drill testing and are therefore optimistic that this first
discovery drill hole represents the beginning of a new and very significant
phase in our exploration for primary sources of diamonds in Brazil.'

[badtime] 28/1/2005 07:49

wakee wakee..positive drilling update

[rambutan2] 27/1/2005 10:15

hmmm. did our boss bag himself a hidefield bargain from us? some think it v undervalued at the mo - and he got a warrant thrown in for free.
good news that a few more shares on aim.
good news that results out before too long.
good news that wdb managed placing at only small discount.
but how quickly we burning through the cash?
any views?

BRAZILIAN DIAMONDS LIMITED
PLACING, DIRECTOR SHAREHOLDING AND CHANGE OF YEAR END

The Directors of Brazilian Diamonds Limited ('Brazilian' or the 'Company') are
pleased to announce that on 25 January 2005, the Company placed 2,500,000 new
common shares with an institutional investor at a price of Cdn 47 cents per
share.

Also on 25 January 2005 Hamilton Capital Partners Limited ('Hamilton'), a
company with which Kenneth Judge, the Chairman of the Company, is associated,
placed 7,500,000 common shares in the Company with institutional investors at a
price of Cdn 47 cents per share. Simultaneously, Hamilton exercised existing
warrants over 7,500,000 new common shares at a price of Cdn 20 cents per share.

The Company has agreed to pay the London brokerage firm of Williams de Broe a
commission of 3 per cent. in connection with the above placings.

In addition, the Company has agreed with Hamilton and Rock Capital Partners
Limited ('Rock Capital'), a company with which Stephen Fabian and Francis
Johnstone, who are both directors of Brazilian, are associated, that Hamilton
and Rock Capital will purchase 11,125,000 and 1,000,000 'Hidefield units'
respectively from the Company at a price of 4.5 pence per unit. Each Hidefield
unit comprises one ordinary share in Hidefield Gold plc ('Hidefield') and the
right to acquire a further share in Hidefield from the Company at 6 pence per
share within three years of the date of grant. The price of 4.5 pence represents
a premium of approximately 9 per cent. to the closing mid-market price of
Hidefield shares on 25 January 2005. Assuming the rights to acquire further
shares are exercised in full, Brazilian would cease to have an interest in the
share capital of Hidefield

Upon completion of the above transactions, the Company has agreed to grant to
Hamilton 2,500,000 warrants to subscribe for new common shares in the Company in
consideration for Hamilton's agreeing to the early exercise of its 7,500,000
warrants. The new warrants will be exercisable within three years of the date of
grant at an exercise price of Cdn 70 cents per share.

The above transactions remain subject to the acceptance of the Toronto Stock
Exchange.

As a result of the placing of the new shares, the exercise of warrants by
Hamilton and the sale of Hidefield units to Hamilton and Rock Capital, the
Company will generate, in aggregate, approximately Cdn$3.9 million, before
expenses. The funds raised through these transactions are intended to be used to
fund the Company's kimberlite exploration program, development of the Canastra 1
kimberlite for which permitting is underway and the upgrading of the Company's
laboratory at Patos de Minas, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Notwithstanding the sale of Brazilian Diamonds' Hidefield shares, the two
companies will continue to work closely on the Cata Preta joint venture, in
Minas Gerais and where opportunities arise, elsewhere in Brazil taking advantage
of Brazilian Diamonds substantial local infrastructure and extensive operating
experience in the country.

The Directors (excluding Kenneth Judge, Stephen Fabian and Francis Johnstone)
consider, having consulted with Westhouse Securities LLP, the Company's
nominated adviser in respect of its listing on the AIM market of the London
Stock Exchange, that the terms of the sale of the Hidefield units are fair and
reasonable insofar as shareholders are concerned.

Application will be made for the 10,000,000 new common shares issued both in
connection with the placing and resulting from the exercise of warrants to be
admitted to trading on AIM. It is expected that admission will take place on 1
February 2005. As the new common shares issued in connection with the placing
will not qualify for resale in Canada or to a resident of Canada through the
Toronto Stock Exchange for a period of four months from the date of admission,
those 2,500,000 new common shares will be traded under separate ISIM and SEDOL
codes from the existing common shares for a period of four months.

The Company also wishes to announce that it has changed its financial year end
to 31 December in order to bring the holding company's year end into alignment
with requirements under Brazilian law that the Brazilian subsidiaries have a
calendar year end. Accordingly, the Company's next annual results will be
published on or before 31 March 2005.

Ken Judge, Chairman of Brazilian Diamonds said 'We are delighted with this
demonstration of the continuing support we have received from institutional
investors in London and Montreal. The opportunity to sell the stake in
Hidefield, which was received as consideration for the establishment of the Cata
Preta joint venture, represents a significant financial gain for Brazilian
Diamonds and will provide the Company with important funding to continue our
exciting kimberlite exploration programs in the Santo Antonio and Abaete River
Valleys in Minas Gerais, Brazil. We have an excellent working relationship with
Hidefield and the two companies will continue to work closely together with
Brazilian Diamonds assisting Hidefield with its exploration and evaluation
activities wherever we can.'

[unionhall] 26/1/2005 19:41

According to the forex tab above £1 = $2.32Can so 47c = 20.3p

[mikeatwork22] 26/1/2005 18:05

Placing of new shares - Whats 47 cents worth in UK money ?

[rambutan2] 18/1/2005 12:54

ok, to finish what i started on post 132...

BC: If you're looking at that sector, look at Heritage Oil and Gas, which sold its stake to Maurel et Prom. Look at the valuation, the comparative valuations aren't stunning. Everybody's heard of Maurel et Prom. I don't think anyone's heard of Heritage Oil and Gas. But if I were to tip one stock, then I would tip Brazilian Diamonds. I've just been out there.

The demand for diamonds is growing. The supply is not growing at the same pace, so there's a shortage. Diamonds rose 16% last year. De Beers no longer have a stock overhang, they've got two months' supply, which is tiny. The Chinese have started buying them.

[rambutan2] 17/1/2005 13:10

from c i t y w i r e piece on sparklers for 2005...

BRAZILIAN DIAMONDS
Across the Atlantic in Brazil Brazilian Diamonds is exploring in the Minas Gerais region. It recently inked a deal with diamond giant De Beers in which the South African giant takes a significant stake in Brazilian and also handed over 30 years worth of exploration data gathered on the Minas Gerais region.

This gives significant credibility and should allow Brazilian to prioritise areas it intends to explore across its 230,000 hectares in Minas Gerais.

Brazilian is considering an alluvial mining joint venture on the Santo Antonio river. Alluvial diamonds are washed down stream in rivers rather than dug out of the ground. Bulk sampling starts in early 2005.

At the beginning of December, Brazilian Diamonds announced its first drill hole at the Tucano Project encountered kimberlitic material, ideal for diamonds. However, until it pulls some major stones out of the ground the share price may remain weak - this year it drifted from 35p to 15.5p before recovering to 21.75p.

Diamond mining is tough and even areas with perfect geological make up can fail to produce commercial quantities. Mano River and Brazilian Diamonds are extremely risky due to the early stage nature of their development and the nature of diamond exploration, but rewards for early stage investors could be handsome.

[airymatt] 15/1/2005 18:54

On the cusp of this 52ct resistance again.. would be good to see a sustained close above.

[rambutan2] 13/1/2005 14:21

this is the guy i saw tip them (see post 132)...

'The fact is that Uruguay Minerals, as it should call itself from henceforth, has been nursed along by Bob Catto at stockbrokers Williams de Broe to the extent that Williams de Broe have 25 per cent of the issued capital and the public - presumably friends of friends and those who have read rare comments on the company - account for 55 per cent.'