Post by Catdaddy on Mar 15, 2007 14:00:31 GMT -5
silverbulletgirl
DIAMOND MINER
SHORE MOVING RIGS BACK
« Thread Started on Today at 12:36 »
Shore Gold winds down Orion North test
2007-03-13 19:07 ET - Street Wire
by Will Purcell
Shore Gold Inc. is wrapping up its big drill program on Orion North, in the Fort a la Corne district of central Saskatchewan, but there will be no rest for its two huge Bauer drill rigs. The company plans to keep the machines busy on two other pipes throughout much of this year. The tests will provide an initial grade expectation for Orion North, better delineate higher-grade zones on Orion South and provide greater three-dimensional detail of the grade and value at Star.
The Orion North test
George Read, Shore's senior vice-president of exploration, said Shore was currently working on its 17th and 18th holes in what will be a 20-hole program at Orion North. The first 15 of the tests probed the core of the kimberlite complex, near the border region between the No. 147 and No. 148 pipes, which are the two main parts of Orion North.
Shore is drilling the remaining five holes into the No. 120 pipe, which lies at the northwestern extremity of Orion North and the seven-kilometre-long Orion kimberlite cluster. Mr. Read said there were mineralogical differences between the two zones that warranted the closer look.
Although the No. 120 pipe yielded lower diamond counts than tests of No. 147 and No. 148, Mr. Read said there was a "very attractive eclogitic component within No. 120 that made him optimistic a big batch of rock would yield an encouraging diamond grade and some larger stones.
De Beers Canada Inc. did limited mini-bulk testing of the No. 148 pipe during the 1990s, and the company calculated it held about 150 million tonnes of richer kimberlite, but its modelled grade of 0.07 carat per tonne did not generate much optimism. Further, none of the other three pipes within Orion North made the diamond giant's list. Shore nevertheless thinks that it can find enough worthwhile rock within a complex it now estimates could contain as much as 870 million tonnes of kimberlite.
The new tests
The company will move its two Bauer rigs back to the Star pipe, about nine kilometres to the southeast, once it wraps up its Orion North test. Mr. Read said Shore would drill another 24 holes into the pipe, with five slated for the Star West fringe that lies on the property the company shares with Newmont Mining Corp. of Canada Ltd.
Several of the new holes into Star will probe the areas near and within the zone containing its underground workings, tests the company could not complete while it was busy digging 235 metres below the surface. Shore expects to wrap up its third and final big underground bulk sample of Star and it will decommission its underground workings late this month.
Once the company finishes at Star, it will move the two big drills a few kilometres to the northwest, to Orion South. Mr. Read said the company planned at least 10 big holes into what is still the most advanced kimberlite on the joint venture property. That work will likely start this fall. Shore intends to test two regions within Orion South that are yielding higher grades. If the results continue to be favourable, the company will sink a shaft into the pipe next year to collect a big bulk test.
Mr. Read said that Shore expected to have the results from the 20 large diameter holes into Orion North fairly soon, followed by the remaining Pense and Cantuar kimberlite the company dug out of its underground workings at Star. By then, Shore will have a significantly larger diamond parcel that will require a new appraisal, and Mr. Read said the new diamonds from Star would get a trip to Antwerp for valuation. As well, Shore could have enough Orion North diamonds to complete an initial valuation.
DIAMOND MINER
SHORE MOVING RIGS BACK
« Thread Started on Today at 12:36 »
Shore Gold winds down Orion North test
2007-03-13 19:07 ET - Street Wire
by Will Purcell
Shore Gold Inc. is wrapping up its big drill program on Orion North, in the Fort a la Corne district of central Saskatchewan, but there will be no rest for its two huge Bauer drill rigs. The company plans to keep the machines busy on two other pipes throughout much of this year. The tests will provide an initial grade expectation for Orion North, better delineate higher-grade zones on Orion South and provide greater three-dimensional detail of the grade and value at Star.
The Orion North test
George Read, Shore's senior vice-president of exploration, said Shore was currently working on its 17th and 18th holes in what will be a 20-hole program at Orion North. The first 15 of the tests probed the core of the kimberlite complex, near the border region between the No. 147 and No. 148 pipes, which are the two main parts of Orion North.
Shore is drilling the remaining five holes into the No. 120 pipe, which lies at the northwestern extremity of Orion North and the seven-kilometre-long Orion kimberlite cluster. Mr. Read said there were mineralogical differences between the two zones that warranted the closer look.
Although the No. 120 pipe yielded lower diamond counts than tests of No. 147 and No. 148, Mr. Read said there was a "very attractive eclogitic component within No. 120 that made him optimistic a big batch of rock would yield an encouraging diamond grade and some larger stones.
De Beers Canada Inc. did limited mini-bulk testing of the No. 148 pipe during the 1990s, and the company calculated it held about 150 million tonnes of richer kimberlite, but its modelled grade of 0.07 carat per tonne did not generate much optimism. Further, none of the other three pipes within Orion North made the diamond giant's list. Shore nevertheless thinks that it can find enough worthwhile rock within a complex it now estimates could contain as much as 870 million tonnes of kimberlite.
The new tests
The company will move its two Bauer rigs back to the Star pipe, about nine kilometres to the southeast, once it wraps up its Orion North test. Mr. Read said Shore would drill another 24 holes into the pipe, with five slated for the Star West fringe that lies on the property the company shares with Newmont Mining Corp. of Canada Ltd.
Several of the new holes into Star will probe the areas near and within the zone containing its underground workings, tests the company could not complete while it was busy digging 235 metres below the surface. Shore expects to wrap up its third and final big underground bulk sample of Star and it will decommission its underground workings late this month.
Once the company finishes at Star, it will move the two big drills a few kilometres to the northwest, to Orion South. Mr. Read said the company planned at least 10 big holes into what is still the most advanced kimberlite on the joint venture property. That work will likely start this fall. Shore intends to test two regions within Orion South that are yielding higher grades. If the results continue to be favourable, the company will sink a shaft into the pipe next year to collect a big bulk test.
Mr. Read said that Shore expected to have the results from the 20 large diameter holes into Orion North fairly soon, followed by the remaining Pense and Cantuar kimberlite the company dug out of its underground workings at Star. By then, Shore will have a significantly larger diamond parcel that will require a new appraisal, and Mr. Read said the new diamonds from Star would get a trip to Antwerp for valuation. As well, Shore could have enough Orion North diamonds to complete an initial valuation.
