CMKM Diamonds Inc (fka CMKX)

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CASAVANT/Kensington Mining has a nice ring to it!!!

Kensington Resources Fronts Up To De Beers And Pushes For Speedy Pre-Feasibility At Fort a la Corne.

The relationship between Kensington Resources and De Beers on the Fort a la Corne diamond project in Saskatchewan has long been a brittle one, harking back to the days in 2000 when Monopros, as the De Beers subsidiary in Canada was then called, announced that diamonds recovered from bulk samples previously taken at Fort a la Corne had been understated. The actual announcement by Monopros read as follows: “The most significant factor arising from the 1999 work was the unusually large number of diamonds recovered from the x-ray tailing material from the Sortex recovery plant. Monopros is taking steps to re-examine the entire 1997 tailings collection in view of these results. In addition investigations are underway to fully assess the treatment history of all pre-1999 macrodiamond recovery samples.” In fact Monopros agreed to re-sort all the Sortex tailings back to 1990.

Two years later Kensington was told quite casually by De Beers that it had recovered another three diamonds from drill samples taken in 2001 from the 141 kimberlite pipe. And one of these diamonds was a macro weighing no less than 3.35 carats which came from “the upper part of drillhole 141-20 during final diamond recovery from previously unexamined clay-rich samples. The 3.35 carat stone is the largest diamond recovered to date for this project and on first inspection appears of similar quality to diamonds recovered previously from pipe 141.” It was astonishing that such a stone could have been missed and the question has to be asked as to why the clay rich samples were not examined. A junior partner has a right to expect efficiency from De Beers and the finds came against a background of delayed test results and pressure on Kensington over maintaining its share of funding exploration.

Last year was just the same. Samples from all four of the kimberlites that had been drilled were sent to the Saskatchewan Research Council for diamond recovery in October 2003. Recovered diamonds and caustic residues were then sent to the De Beers microdiamond laboratory in Kimberley for audit purposes and months went by before the results for big 140/141 kimberlite body were announced towards the end of March. The idea of the sampling programme had been to target the enriched zones of kimberlite previously indicated. The results from kimberlite 148 were encouraging and those from 140/141 confirmed success. With microdiamond grades much higher than before, particularly I the repeated graded beds and breccia beds which averaged 22.5 and 21.6 stones/10kgs respectively.drilled in 2003. The long delay, however, had done no good for the Kensington share price and De Beers should have appreciated that newsflow is vital to financial survival of a junior mining company.

The war of attrition was very debilitating for the board of Kensington and in May this year a new president, Robert McCallum took over from David Stone. This was a very shrewd move, coming as it did a couple of years after Fred Zimmerman, a diamond marketing expert previously involved with BHP Billiton’s Ekati mine, joined the board. He is now a technical adviser as also are Richard Wake-Walker and Charles Wyndham of WWW International Diamond Consultants. Both of them held high positions in De Beers before going independent and are now helping to value diamonds for the Canadian government among other things. “It takes one to know one” is what they say and Robert MaCallum worked for De Beers for seventeen years ending up responsible for the Kinsch, Koffiefontein, Jagersfontein and De Beers diamond mines.

The combination of all these experienced diamond people has not been lost on De Beers and the relationship between the two companies is said to be improving. In very quick time it was announced that a new airborne survey had been completed over Fort a la Corne to delineate the shape and size of known kimberlite bodies and search for new , non-magnetic kimberlites. The Fort a la Corne kimberlite field, it should be remembered , is one of the largest diamondiferous clusters in the world and many of the kimberlites are huge. It is probably for this reason that De Beers has tried so hard to shake Kensington Resources out of its 42.25 per cent interest. Anyway the position now is that diamond results from kimberlite 150 are still awaited as is diamond grade modelling for kimberlites 148 , 140/141, 122 and 150. Once these are received decisions can be made on drilling and minibulk sampling programmes for this year and next.

It is at this point that the politics of the joint venture changed. Kensington Resources took the initiative at a recent meeting of the partners and announced details of the forward work programme for 2004 and 5 with a budget of C$6 million. The emphasis is now on making a decision on pre-feasibility as quickly as possible instead of just defining higher grade sub-units within the various kimberlites. There is a shortfall in the world’s production of rough stones and Robert MacCallum is positioning Fort a la Corne to become a large, long term low cost producer. And just to drive the point home he gave an interview with the local Star Phoenix newspaper in which he claimed that the project was moving up the De Beers priority list as a central processing plant fed from three or four giant open pits was a possibility instead of concentrating on a single body. This tough approach by Kensington could pay off in a big way for its long suffering shareholders.

Press Release Source: Kensington Resources Ltd.


Kensington Resources Ltd.: Announcement
Monday April 26, 9:30 am ET


VICTORIA, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 2004--The Board of Directors of Kensington Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:KRT - News) is pleased to announce steps intended to strengthen the management of the company with new skills to meet the challenges of the current phase of its activities. David Stone, who has led the Company as President since 1997, concurs with the direction being taken. He has resigned as President of the Company effective immediately and the Board of Directors expresses its appreciation and thanks to David for his efforts and his years of service as President. The operations of the Company will be conducted by the Board of Directors while the Company searches for a suitable replacement with diamond mining related experience and management skills to provide leadership for the next stage in the development of the Fort a la Corne Joint Venture Diamond Project in Saskatchewan. David Stone will remain on the Board of Directors and will assist in the process.
-0-

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF KENSINGTON RESOURCES LTD.

Murray Tildesley
Secretary

FORM 20-F FILE #0-24980
LISTED IN STANDARD & POOR'S


The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.



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Contact:
Kensington Resources Ltd.
Murray Tildesley, 800-514-7859 or 250-361-1KRT
or
Robert A. Young & Associates
Robert A. Young, 877-626-2121 or 604-682-5123
[e-mail]