NR-Emeralds back=======================================================================
Re: News Release - Thursday, March 02, 2006
True North Gems - Tsa da Glisza faceting returns 96.33 total
carats of emerald
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Vancouver, March 2, 2006 - True North Gems (TGX: TSX-V) is very pleased
to announce that cutting of its first of several parcels of 2005 gem
grade emerald rough has returned 768 faceted emeralds weighing a total
of 67.28 carats with individual emeralds weighing up to 1.49 carats.
The fine grade class of faceted emeralds contained individual stones
weighing up to 0.11 carats. All of the emeralds were fashioned as
rounds, squares and emerald cuts. In addition, 136 cabochons weighing
in aggregate 29.05 carats, were received.
This parcel, comprising 230.11 grams of clean, processed gem grade
emerald rough, was forwarded to an overseas cutting factory in
September 2005. The residual gem material after faceting, weighing
114.1 grams, has been sent to another facility overseas in February
2006 for cutting of cabochons and beads.
Gemological grading of the faceted emeralds was completed at the
Company's secure laboratory facility in Vancouver and the results are
tabulated below.
The carat weight and frequency distribution of the faceted emeralds are
tabulated below.
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Total Weight
Grade Class # Stones (carats)
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Commercial 649 59.51
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Good 103 7.09
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Fine 16 0.68
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Six of the faceted emeralds individually weigh in excess of 0.50 carats
as tabulated below.
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Grade Class Cut Weight (carats)
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Good round 0.77
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Commercial emerald 1.49
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Commercial emerald 0.80
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Commercial round 0.70
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Commercial square 0.62
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Commercial square 0.53
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"We are very pleased with the improvements in facet and cabochon
cutting yield (16.6%) from the first parcel of 2005 gem grade emeralds
as compared to the overall 2003/2004 gem and near-gem material (3.09%).
The majority of these 2005 faceted goods were graded by our in-house
gemologists into the commercial and good classes." said Greg Davison,
Tsa da Glisza Project Manager. "Independent, loose polished wholesale
valuations of comparable 2003/2004 emeralds ranged from US$10 - US$150
per carat. We are pleased to report that test retail marketing of
similar faceted emeralds in our finished signature jewelry pieces
during 2005 returned emerald valuations of US$556 - US$737 per carat,
net of fabrication costs. The fine and extra-fine 2003/2004 emeralds,
typically <10-20 point stones, were valued independently on a loose
polished wholesale basis at US$40 - US$600 per carat."
The 12 kg of emerald rough, including more than 7 kg gem and near-gem
material, was recovered from the trenching, mini-bulk sampling and
processing segment of its $1.6 million 2005 exploration program at the
Company's Tsa da Glisza emerald property in the Finlayson district,
Yukon Territory, Canada (see press release of December 20, 2005).
A total of 4,044.67 grams of gem and near-gem emerald rough was sent
overseas in separate parcels for cutting in the fourth quarter of 2005.
These parcels contained a total of 490.34 grams of clean, processed
gem grade emerald rough. The second gem grade parcel (260.23 grams)
and the first two parcels of near-gem rough (3,554.33 grams) are
nearing completion. The remaining 3,040.06 grams of gem and near-gem
rough was packaged for shipment overseas in February 2006. Results
will be provided as available.
A compilation of the gem and near-gem emerald distribution by grade,
size, cut, carat weight and overall cutting yield will be provided
shortly thereafter.
The planning and execution of the emerald exploration, security
protocols and quality control programs at Tsa da Glizsa are under the
supervision of Greg Davison, P.Geo. (BC, ON), Vice President
Exploration, who is a qualified person as defined by National
Instrument 43-101.
True North Gems is a public company listed on the TSX Venture exchange
and is engaged in the exploration and development of coloured gemstone
deposits in North America and Greenland.
The Company relies on litigation protection for "forward-looking"
statements. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not
accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the release.
For further information contact:
Greg Davison, P. Geo.,