Just days after completing its merger with
Under the latest deal, Shore has locked up voting support from
Cameco holds a 5.51% stake in the project, with UEM at 10%;
Says Shore chief executive Kenneth MacNeill of what the deal means to the project: “We believe we can help put our shoulder to the wheel. Certainly anything we can do to move the project along, we’d be willing to offer to the other parties.”
The 225-sq.-km FalC project is home to 63 known kimberlite bodies, with the largest measuring up to 200 hectares — on scale with some of the biggest in the world. The joint-venture partners are in the midst of a 3-year exploration and evaluation program designed to advance the project to a decision regarding prefeasibility in 2008, with the ultimate goal of outlining a resource of 70-100 million carats of diamonds.
Meanwhile, on the Star kimberlite project, adjacent to FalC on the southeast, MacNeill says the latest 1,895.5-kg batch kimberlite yielded an average diamond grade of 18.15 carats per hundred tonne (cpht) — higher than the average so far. Included in the latest results is a 45.6-tonne sample running 23.28 cpht.
The four largest stones measure 7.06 carats, 5.97 carats, 4.99 carats and 4.9 carats. In all, 17 stones exceed 2 carats with another 49 weighing in at more than 1 carat. Of those, 20 are white, seven are off-white, 15 are grey, and five are brown. In all, some 2,289 diamonds exceeding 1.18 mm were recovered from the Early Joli Fou stratigraphic-equivalent kimberlite.
“These are nice stones, including a lot of diamonds both over a carat and larger too,” adds MacNeill.
Shore’s vice-president of exploration, George Read, says the recovery of another 15,000 tonnes of kimberlite from Star’s underground workings is almost complete, with the latest haul bringing to 4,923.82 the total number of carats recovered during two stages of exploration. Plans call for a package of 6,000 to 7,000 carats to be assembled for valuation.
MacNeill says the latest results are also significant in that they represent stones farther away from the shaft “and grades continue to look good.”
Meanwhile, the company recently commissioned a second large-diameter drill rig, which is already cutting kimberlite at a depth of 145 metres. The rigs are capable of drilling a 1.2-metre diameter hole to a depth of 360 metres.
Shore has retained Nuna Logistics to complete 17,000 metres worth of large-diameter drilling in 72 holes. The drill program is designed to collect more than 10,000 tonnes of kimberlite to determine the grade of the kimberlite away from the bulk sample shaft and associated lateral drifts.
Shares in Shore Gold were 13, or 1.8% higher at $7.44 in late afternoon trading in Toronto on Nov. 3. The shares have traded in a 52-week window of $2.35-$7.50.
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