[AFNS] FORT À LA CORNE, CANADA 06 July 2007 – Shore Gold announced that the largest diamond ever found in Saskatchewan, a 49.5 carat stone, has been found in a 205.37 carat parcel that also includes a 22.56 stone. The parcel was recovered from a 987.26 dry tonne sample from a phase 3 bulk sampling program at the Star Diamond Project near Fort à la Corne, Sasketchewan.

A total of 689 commercial sized diamonds—stones caught by a 1.18 mm square mesh screen—with a total weight of 205.2 carats, has been recovered from this and two other sample batches. Thirty-three diamonds weighing more than 1 carat each have been recovered; the third and fourth biggest weigh in at 5.45 and 5.34 carats, respectively. The color of 71 percent of the diamonds has been classified as white, with a further 17 percent classified as off-white. These kimberlite batches were recovered from the “Cantuar Kimberlite” at the project.

The 49.5 carat stone “is a fragment of a considerably larger stone and the crystal shape suggests that less than 50 percent of the original stone has been recovered,” Senior Vice President of Exploration and Development George Read said. “This large stone confirms the statistical modeling by Shore geologists … that diamonds in excess of 100 carats occur in the Star diamond population. The high proportion of plus 1 carat diamonds and the resultant coarse size frequency distribution for the Cantuar diamond population will have a positive effect on the economics of this kimberlite lithology.”

The bulk sampling program’s budget is Can. $60 million (U.S.$56.5 million). Shore Gold has a 60 percent stake in the Star Project, and Newmont Mining has 40 percent.

A service of the Antwerp Facets News Service (AFNS). Article may be reproduced provided that credit is given to AFNS.