In December 2005 Sunrise
signed an agreement with BHP Billiton to acquire
exclusive use of BHP Billiton’s diamond exploration
database for the whole of Finland.
The database includes results from over 18,000 geochemical
samples, 25,000 line km of close-spaced airborne
geophysical data, a large archive of ground magnetic
and drilling data and numerous evaluation reports.
Sunrise estimates that this extensive database has
a replacement value of over US$10milllion and gives
the Company a 6-year leap forward in target definition
and exploration in the diamond prospective part of
the Finnish sector of the Karelian Craton.
The Company is already reaping the benefit of this
acquisition after incorporating the data into its
own country-wide Geographical Information System
creating what is probably the most comprehensive
diamond exploration data resource currently in use
in Finland.
Numerous dispersion trains of diamond-diagnostic
kimberlite indicator minerals in glacial sediments
have been acquired following a review of the database.
These include G10 garnets, but in two particular
cases, both micro-and macro-diamonds are reported
in areas where the bedrock source does not appear
to have been identified.
Under the terms of the BHP Billiton Agreement BHP
Billiton was issued with a 5-year option to acquire
5 million Sunrise shares at 5p each (a premium of
150% to the share price on 13 December 2005) and
BHP Billiton has the right to match any third party
terms for any future joint venture or acquisition
of any Sunrise’s diamond exploration projects
in Finland. Should this result in a JV with BHP Billiton
being established, BHP Billiton will also have the
right to match the diamond marketing terms and conditions
offered by any third party.
BHP Billiton acquired the diamond database in 2001
as a result of its takeover of Dia Met Minerals Ltd
(“Diamet”), the Canadian exploration
company whose main asset at that time was its Ekati
diamond project in the Northwest Territories, which
is now in production. The database was assembled
from the results of 6 years’ exploration (1994-2000)
by Diamet in Finland and includes merged data from
a joint venture with Australia’s Ashton Mining.
Ashton had been exploring in Finland since 1986 and
had discovered 25 kimberlite pipes, mainly in the
Kaavi-Kuopio area near the south-west margin of the
Karelian Craton.
Diamet’s exploration activities in Finland were
directed by Chuck Fipke, the pioneering geologist whose
discovery of the Ekati diamond mine in Canada resulted
from his dogged devotion to tracing kimberlitic indicator
mineral trains for many hundreds of miles back to their
source. Diamet’s exploration in Finland ended
with the BHP Billiton takeover, but target selection
was ongoing until then. |
