Ashton Mining of Canada Inc.: Second Renard 2 Mini-Bulk
Sample Returns 65 CPHT
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--Robert T. Boyd, President and CEO of
Ashton Mining of Canada Inc. ("Ashton"), is pleased to report an
estimated diamond content of 65 carats per hundred tonnes
("cpht") for a 2.50 tonne sample collected from the Renard 2
kimberlitic body in 2002.
Situated in the Otish Mountains region of north-central Quebec on
the 153,000 hectare Foxtrot property currently being explored by
Ashton and its joint venture partner, SOQUEM INC. ("SOQUEM"),
Renard 2 was discovered in late 2001 by drilling a geophysical
anomaly. As shown in the table below, an initial 2.44 tonne
mini-bulk sample collected in early 2002 returned an estimated
diamond content of 69 cpht.
A second sample weighing 2.50 tonnes was collected during the
summer mini-bulk sampling program by drilling three core holes.
The sample consisted dominantly of kimberlitic breccia with
numerous intersections of hypabyssal material and country rock.
After processing through the dense media separation plant at
Ashton's North Vancouver laboratory, the sample returned a total
of 1.62 carats of diamonds larger than 0.85 mm using a square
aperture screen. As shown in the table below, these results give
the sample an estimated diamond content of 65 cpht. Larger, more
representative samples are required to determine the diamond
grade of the Renard 2 body.
/T/
Summary of DMS Diamond Results - Renard 2
---------------------------------------------------------
Date Reported Sample Diamonds Diamond
Weight Recovered Content
(tonnes) (greater than (cpht)
0.85 mm)
(carats)
---------------------------------------------------------
January 24, 2003 2.50 1.62 65
June 11, 2002 2.44 1.69 69
Total 4.94 3.31 67
---------------------------------------------------------
/T/
Intersections of hypabyssal material that ranged from two to six
metres in length were selected from each of the three drill
holes. Weighing 434 kg in total, these hypabyssal intersections
were processed separately and returned 1.17 of the 1.62 carats
recovered from the 2.50 tonnes of material.
The 2.50 tonne sample returned five diamonds greater than 0.10
carats. Four of these diamonds are colourless and originated from
the hypabyssal material. They are described as follows: a 0.38
carat composite crystal, two fragments weighing 0.16 and 0.11
carats, and a cube weighing 0.14 carats. The fifth diamond is a
pale brown composite crystal weighing 0.12 carats that was
recovered from the breccia.
Ashton's news releases dated June 11 and October 4, 2002
summarize the data from the nine holes drilled to date at Renard
2. These data suggest that this body has approximate minimum
surface dimensions of 120 m x 65 m.
The combined results of the 4.94 tonnes of material tested to
date confirm the potential of Renard 2. As outlined in Ashton's
news release dated January 13, 2003, the joint venture will
implement an aggressive winter exploration program that will
include additional sampling and delineation drilling of this and
other Renard kimberlitic bodies. Mobilization for this program
will commence in early February.
Ashton is the operator of the joint venture's exploration
programs and Brooke Clements, Professional Geologist and Ashton's
Vice President, Exploration, is responsible for their design and
conduct and the verification and quality assurance of analytical
results. SOQUEM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SGF Minerals
Inc., a subsidiary of Societe Generale de Financement du Quebec
("SGF"). The mission of the SGF is to carry out economic
development projects in cooperation with partners and in
accordance with accepted requirements of profitability. |
