Vancouver – The latest batches of kimberlite from mini-bulk sampling at Shore Gold’s (SGF-V) wholly owned Star Diamond project, in the Fort a la Corne area of Saskatchewan, has yielded a significant number of larger diamonds, including a 19.7 carat stone.
This most recent round of almost 1,600 dry tonnes of kimberlite gave up 1,459 diamonds of commercial size (greater than 1.18 mm. screen size) weighing 227.6 carats. Within the lot, were 33 stones greater than one carat with the four largest being 19.71, 7.48, 5.61 and 4.67 carats, respectively. Of the one-carat-plus diamonds, 21 were colour classified as white and seven as off-white, with the remainder browns, yellows and others.
The almost 20 carat stone was white in colour and represents a significant size increase in diamond populations from Saskatchewan kimberlites. The stone is the largest ever found in the province.
Four of the five kimberlite batches that constitute this latest portion of the mini-bulk sample were recovered from the Early Joli Fou equivalent kimberlite phase. The Early Joli Fou material is so far showing to be of much higher diamond grade than the Late Joli Fou. Fortunately for Shore Gold, present volume estimates of the Star kimberlite show it being composed of about 80% Early and 20% Late Joli Fou kimberlites.
The company has now extracted 14,500 tonnes of kimberlite from Star. Several kimberlite batch samples recently extracted and processed to concentrate onsite have been sent for diamond recovery and counts, results are pending.
To date, Shore Gold has recovered just under 700 carats of a planned 3,000 carats of commercial sized diamonds for valuation.
Market reaction to the news was swift and positive, the issue rose over 41%, or 58, over the last two days, closing at $1.98 per share on cumulative volume of over 1.6 million shares. As of the latest figures, the company reports 50.3 million shares outstanding.
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