Shear Drills Four New Kimberlites at Churchill Diamond Project
Tuesday September 14, 11:16 am ET
EDMONTON, ALBERTA--(CCNMatthews - Sept. 14, 2004) -
2005 program to test up to 20 targets
Shear Minerals Ltd. (SRM:TSXV), Stornoway Diamond Corporation (SWY:TSXV), and BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc. announced today that four new kimberlitic bodies have been discovered on the Churchill Diamond Project, Nunavut. This brings the total number of confirmed kimberlite occurrences on the project to 20.
This year's drill program, which commenced on August 22, is designed to test a variety of geophysical signatures within distinct corridors where high interest indicator minerals have been recovered in till samples. The kimberlites discovered on the property in 2003 were not located within these corridors.
"The fact that we continue to drill kimberlites at Churchill highlights the extent of the kimberlite cluster on the property," said Pamela Strand, President and CEO of Shear. "Shear is committed to drilling until the source of the outstanding indicator mineral chemistry on the property has been identified."
Target KD-597 is characterized by a roughly circular magnetic low anomaly approximately 125 meters in diameter; this vertical drill hole was drilled to a depth of 76m and intersected 55m of kimberlite. The second hole tested target KD-568 and intersected a 2.3m wide lens of kimberlite. Target KD-428 is a magnetic low anomaly with coincident EM approximately 200 m minimum in length. Kimberlite at KD-428 was intersected by a vertical hole at a depth of 15m and terminated in altered kimberlite at a depth of 137m. Target KD-235 is a magnetic low anomaly under a lake and was tested with an angled hole at -50o that intersected kimberlite from 52.5m to 84.4m. For a map please visit the Shear website at www.shearminerals.com.
Representative samples have been collected from each of the new kimberlites and will be submitted to the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC), an independent laboratory, for micro-diamond analysis. Samples have been collected for petrographic and indicator mineral analysis to fully asses the diamond potential of these discoveries.
The current drill program will test up to 20 high priority targets. Drilling will continue into the spring in order to test lake-bound targets. New targets identified in the detailed helicopter-borne Mag/EM data collected this summer will be incorporated into the current and spring drilling programs.
The 8.5 million acre Churchill Diamond project, located near the community of Rankin Inlet in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut is a new and expanding kimberlite district which Shear and its partners discovered in 2003. Success at Churchill has contributed to a major staking rush in the eastern arctic where diamond exploration investment is expected to exceed $100 million in 2004. Shear has a 51% interest in the project and is operator. Stornoway Diamond Corp. and BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc. have 35% and 14% interests respectively. The 2004 field program is under the supervision of Jennifer Burgess, P. Geol., a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.
On behalf of the Board On behalf of the Board
SHEAR MINERALS LTD. STORNOWAY DIAMOND CORPORATION
/s/ "Pamela Strand" /s/ "Eira Thomas"
Pamela Strand, P. Geol. Eira Thomas
President President
