DIAMOND EXPLORATION – Near-20-ct stone recovered at Star project

SASKATCHEWAN - The Star diamond project 60 km east of Prince Albert continues to yield exceptionally large stones. The latest bulk sample tested for owner SHORE GOLD of Saskatoon yielded stones of 19.25, 17.72, 9.85 and 5.70 carats. A total of 1,419 commercial-sized diamonds, collectively weighing 312.33 carats, was recovered from approximately 1,540 dry tonnes processed.

The colour of 58% of the stones was classified as white, and another 15% were classified as off-white. The four largest stones were classified grey (19.25 ct), white (17.72 and 5.70 ct) and off-white (8.95 ct). There were 18 diamonds over 2.00 ct and a total of 113 diamonds exceeding 0.5 ct. Testing also revealed three yellow, three amber and one pink stone.

The diamond recovery process includes on-site processing of kimberlite through a modular dense media separator, after which concentrates are batch-fed through an x-ray flow-sort. In order to ensure the recovery of low-luminosity diamonds, the flow-sort tailings are processed over a grease table. Flow-sort and grease table concentrates are transported by a secure carrier to SGS LAKEFIELD RESEARCH for final diamond recovery. The SGS lab performs drying, screening, magnetic separation, manual sorting and diamond weighing and description.

Shore Gold says its $44-million Star prefeasibility study is the largest work program outlined for any of the Fort a la Corne kimberlites. The aim of this study is to define a NI 43-101-compliant mineral reserve for the Star kimberlite.

More details about the Star project are available at www.ShoreGold.com.