Hello Frank
***OFF THE WIRE***
Shear announces $5 million exploration budget at Churchill for 2005
Shear Minerals Ltd. (SRM:TSXV), Stornoway Diamond Corporation. (SWY:TSX) and BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc. (BHP Billiton) today announced the approval of a $5 million exploration program and budget to drill test up to 50 geophysical targets located at the head of discrete mineral trains containing high-interest indicator mineral chemistry.
The drill targets were selected after careful integration and review of the Churchill Project data base which now contains more than 6,600 surface samples and 69,000 line km of magnetic and electromagnetic data.
Logistically it is expected that the 2005 exploration program at Churchill will commence in early March with the mobilization of a new field camp to be located in the core area of interest. Ground geophysical crews will follow up selected anomalies and drilling is planned to commence in early April and continue through to the end of the summer season.
In 2003 and 2004, Shear and its partners discovered 24 kimberlites over a wide area on the Churchill and Churchill West projects. Eleven of the kimberlites were diamond bearing. The partners have now narrowed down the areas of interest to two priority corridors – the Josephine River and Sedna corridors – which contain the most compelling G10 pyrope mineral chemistry.
“This year’s aggressive drill campaign aims to test up to 50 targets. Drilling in the spring will focus on targets under lakes where we will conduct ice-based drilling,” says Shear President and CEO Pamela Strand. “Drilling will continue into the summer on land-based targets. After three years of systematic exploration we finally have a sample density and geophysical dataset to focus on discovering the source to the high diamond potential G10 pyrope indicator mineral chemistry.”
On February 1, 2005, the partners were granted additional federal prospecting permits bringing the total acreage being explored at the Churchill Diamond Project to more than 9 million acres located near the community of Rankin Inlet and Chesterfield Inlet in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. The project is owned by joint venture partners Shear, which has a 51% interest and is the operator, Stornoway (35%) and BHP Billiton (14%). The 2005 field program is under the supervision of Jennifer Burgess, P. Geo., a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.
On behalf of the Board
STORNOWAY DIAMOND CORPORATION
/s/ “Eira Thomas”
Eira Thomas
President
For further information, please contact the Company at 604-331-2259 or 1-888-338-2200
www.stornowaydiamonds.com
On behalf of the Board
SHEAR MINERALS LTD.
/s/ “Pamela Strand”
Pamela Strand, P. Geol.
President
Regards
Vaughn
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