Shore Gold releases Orion South bulk sample diamond results

Shore Gold (SGF-T) has completed an underground bulk sample test of the Orion South kimberlite, part of the Fort a la Corne joint venture in Saskatchewan, where Shore owns 60%, and Newmont Mining Corporation of Canada owns 40%. Orion South is 2 km from Shore’s 100%-owned Star Diamond project.

Shore has announced the eighth, and final, set of diamond results from the bulk sampling program. The set was based on a bulk sample weighing 2,957 dry tonnes of kimberlite, and recovered 2,573 commercial-sized diamonds (greater than 1.18 millimetre mesh screen) collectively weighing 520 carats, with the sample grading 17.6 carat per hundred tonnes (CPHT).

Of these, 64 diamonds weigh more than one carat, and the four largest stones are 33 carats, 7 carats, 6 carats and 3 carats. Eleven diamonds exceed 2 carats, and 223 diamonds exceed 0.5 carat. The colour of 38% of the diamonds is white, and another 40% is off-white.

Of the 64 diamonds that are plus 1 carat, 17 are white, 25 are off-white, seven are grey, eight are brown, four are black and three are yellow. Ninety-nine percent of the carat weight of this parcel is made up by diamonds greater than 1.18 millimetre square mesh.

Aggregate results for all eight sets consist of 15,248 diamonds weighing 2,346 carats, from a bulk sample totaling 23,468 dry tonnes of kimberlite, with the sample grading 10 carat per hundred tonnes.

The richest kimberlite unit is the Early Joli Fou (EJF) kimberlite, which grades 17.6 carat per hundred tonnes. The Pense kimberlite unit has much lower grades, at 4.9 CPHT. The transitional EJF-Pense unit grades 10.6 CPHT. The average diamond size from the EJF kimbelite unit is 0.18 carats per stone.

One-third of the bulk sample, or 8,000 tonnes, came from the EJF kimberlite unit, while half (12,000 tonnes) came from the Pense unit, and most of the rest (3,000 tonnes) came from the transitional Pense/EJF unit.

Some of the bulk sample has been mined from depths of 104-148 metres, while the latest sample was mined from a depth of 186 metres. Shore expects a resource estimate for Orion South in mid-year.

On the news, Shore Gold’s shares added 5.5¢ to 44.5¢. The company has 200 million shares outstanding. The shares have been trading in a 20¢-$3.95 range over the past 12 months.