Stornoway Diamond Corporation: AV-1 Drilling Commences; New Kimberlite Occurrence Discovered
8/26/03
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Aug 26, 2003 (CCNMatthews via COMTEX) --
Stornoway Diamond Corporation ('Stornoway') (SWY:TSXV) is pleased to announce that diamond drilling has commenced on the AV-1 kimberlite located on the Aviat Project, Melville Peninsula, Nunavut, Canada. The drill program is designed to determine the geometry of the AV-1 kimberlite and collect material spatially distributed across the body for caustic fusion analysis. The AV-1 drilling is planned to consist of but not be limited to an 8 hole drill program totaling approximately 1000m.
The AV-1 kimberlite was originally discovered in 2002. Historic diamond sieve results of kimberlitic material collected from surface reported previously on May 8, 2003 are re-iterated below.
Table 1: 2002-2003 AV-1 Diamond Sieve Fractions------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TotalSample Sieve Size in millimetres DiamondsWeight (Total Number of Diamonds) Recov-(kg) ered--------------------------------------------------------------------- +0.106 +0.15 +0.212 +0.30 +0.425 +0.60 +0.85 +1.18 +1.70------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------946.25 430 355 265 163 88 39 22 10 1 1373------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The three largest stones measured 2.42 X 2.22 X 2.10 mm; 2.12 X 1.78X 1.50 mm; and 2.06 X 1.90 X 1.30 mm.
In addition, 189.89 kg of previously unreported material collected from AV-1 for QA/QC is reported below. The sample material was crushed, split into four representative samples, and sent to four separate labs for analysis. The results demonstrate that the size distribution of diamonds recovered from the AV-1 material analyzed in 2002-2003 (Table 1) is consistent with the additional AV-1 material processed for QA/QC (Table 2).
Table 2: AV-1 QA/QC Diamond Sieve Fractions------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sample Weight Sieve Size in millimetresLAB (kg) (Total Number of Diamonds)--------------------------------------------------------------------- less than 0.106 +0.106 +0.15 +0.212 +0.30 +0.425 +0.60 +0.85 +1.18 +1.70------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lab1 50.70 2 1 2 3 7 7 6 4 1 1---------------------------------------------------------------------Lab2 44.63 DNR DNR 13 14 9 8 3 1---------------------------------------------------------------------Lab3 46.11 DNR 20 25 16 13 4 3 1---------------------------------------------------------------------Lab4 48.45 DNR 24 19 13 13 4 4 3------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Synthetic Diamond Total Spikes Diamonds Recovered Recovered (i)------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 34 4--------------------------------------------------------------------- 48 5--------------------------------------------------------------------- 82 0--------------------------------------------------------------------- 80 6------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(i) 6 Synthetic Diamonds were incorporated into each sample by Dean Besserer, PGeol, of APEX Geoscience Ltd., a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.(ii) DNR: Did Not Recover
Drilling on the AV-1 kimberlite is one component of the planned 2003 exploration program. A total of $5 million in exploration expenditures is budgeted for the Aviat Project entailing more than 20,000 line kms of airborne geophysical data, ground geophysics follow-up of high priority airborne targets, at least 2500 till samples, and prospecting in the vicinity of the diamondiferous boulder occurrence discovered in 2002 as well as previously identified anomalous till samples.
Prospecting to date has revealed a new kimberlite occurrence located four kilometres to the southeast of the AV-1 kimberlite. The occurrence appears to be a steeply dipping dyke-like kimberlite body with an apparent thickness measuring approximately 3.5 metres. The strike length is undetermined at this time. A ground geophysical grid will be laid over the area of interest to determine the geometry and extent of this new occurrence.
During the 2003 exploration program the company anticipates delineating new highly-prospective targets and moving them to the drill ready stage. A contingency exists to drill test three (3) regional targets, totaling approximately 500m.
Stornoway remains confident that the AV-1 kimberlite is part of a larger cluster of kimberlites on the Aviat project area and maintains that systematic exploration will result in new kimberlite occurrences. Stornoway has a 70-per-cent interest and is operator on the Aviat diamond project with BHP Billiton and the Hunter Exploration Group having 20-per-cent and 10-per-cent respective interests.
Stornoway holds interests in more than 11 million acres of prospective diamond properties throughout northern Canada and will spend in excess of $8 million on exploration during 2003. In 2003, Stornoway will rank as one of Canada's most active diamond explorers, with one of the largest property portfolios in the country. All exploration work is being carried out under the supervision of an experienced technical team that has a track record of discovery in the north. The Company will continue to focus its efforts largely in Nunavut, which remains under-explored and is geologically prospective for the discovery of world class primary diamond deposits. |
