Seahawk tables resource

Vancouver — The Piteiras emerald prospect in eastern Brazil contains 789,000 tonnes grading 112 carats per tonne, according to an independent estimate.

Denver-based Seahawk Minerals (SKM-V) reports that the resource is based on 45 drill holes, with individual samples capped at 15,000 carats per tonne. The holes define a mineralized zone covering an area measuring 750 metres long by 200 metres wide with an average thickness of 2.5 metres. The zone remains open to the south and southeast.

The economic significance of the zone remains in question, as no dollar value has been attached to the contained emeralds.

Seahawk has extracted a 1,000-tonne bulk sample by driving a decline 125 metres into a hillside to a depth of 29 metres. The material is being treated at an on-site processing facility with a throughput rate of 40 tonnes per day. The junior expects the first sale of rough emeralds to occur in the second quarter.

Emeralds are currently being mined at two small-scale operations near the Piteiras property: to the north, at the Belmont mine, which has been operating since the late 1970s, and to the south, at the Capoeirana mine, which started up in the late 1980s.

Seahawk holds a 75% stake in the 313-ha Piteiras property, with the remainder held by private Brazilian interests.

The property is in the Nova Era district of Minas Gerais state.