Brian Testo's Grizzly Diamonds Ltd. has a geophysics crew on the ground in the Buffalo Hills of Northern Alberta, as it prepares for a summer drill program on BE-02. The intriguing new kimberlite find yielded encouraging numbers of microdiamonds from a first small batch of rock. The summer tests will be just a prelude for a million-dollar drill program this winter.

The plan

Mr. Testo said he plans to bring in drillers once the geophysics results are available. The former welder and pipefitter says he has every intention to be drilling by August, although the program could slide into September.
Grizzly intends to drill at least two or three holes into BE-02 to better delineate the body. The company nicked the pipe with its discovery hole this spring, but had to move on before testing the core of the body.
The ground geophysics will help Grizzly find the throat of the BE-02 pipe, and the data may also turn up some new targets in the area. The Buffalo Hills district contains about 40 known pipes and most of them occur in tight lines or clusters. As a result, the company thinks there may be more bodies in the vicinity. "If something turns up 1,000 metres away, we will definitely drill that too," said Mr. Testo.

The company also flew another round of airborne geophysics over its large blocks of ground in Northern Alberta and the data is yielding some promising anomalies. The company holds several claim blocks -- all with ursine names -- that nearly surround the original Buffalo Hills property.

Grizzly is planning its biggest drill program yet on the Diamond play. Mr. Testo said the scale of the program would depend on his ability to pay the bills, but it was certain the company would spend over $1-million on the hunt next year. The summer work will cost at least $250,000.

So far, Mr. Testo has been able to find backers willing to share his Diamond enthusiasm. The company has been keeping its share price buoyant, if not lofty, with a silver hunt in British Columbia and a potash dalliance near the Saskatchewan border. The stock has held the $1 range for nearly three years, and recently made a potash-fuelled run to $1.50.

The encouragement

The BE-02 Diamond counts were unexpected, as the initial enthusiasm went to a larger test of the BE-01 body, which proved a dud. Grizzly recovered 54 diamonds from 56 kilograms of BE-02 kimberlite and 26 sat on a 0.106-millimetre sieve. That lesser number works out to nearly 500 stones per tonne. Although none of the gems sat on a 0.30-millimetre sieve, a few came close, with five sitting on the 0.212-millimetre mesh. As a result, a larger sample could support Mr. Testo's enthusiasm.

Grizzly's BE-02 counts place the pipe among the best pipes in Alberta. For instance, Ashton had been digging up mini-bulk tests of the K-6 pipe for about a decade. That body produced just 58 stones on 322 kilograms of kimberlite, or about 180 stones per tonne. At least a few samples of Ashton's K-14 pipe yielded numbers comparable with BE-02. The two old Ashton pipes are still active plays, and Diamondex Resources Ltd. and Shore Gold Inc. are planning another multimillion-dollar effort on the property this year.

Grizzly closed down 16 cents to $1.12 Monday on 114,900 shares.