some positive newsLooks like the manufacturing end is improving. Now if we could just hear something about the value associated with any of these stones.
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Re: News Release - Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Successful Manufacturing Test for Regal Ridge Emerald
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Vancouver --- April 13, 2004 --- True North Gems is pleased to announce
that a manufacturing test has produced commercial gemstone products
from emerald-bearing materials previously considered uneconomic. In
total, 679 gemstones weighing 134 carats were manufactured from a
parcel of near- and non-gem rough emerald material weighing 259 grams.
Work performed by the Hong Kong-based Land C Company, a contemporary,
state-of-the-art cutting factory which completes extremely precise,
high-volume, calibrated cutting, could significantly improve True North
Gem's ability to produce commercial gemstone products at competitive
prices across the spectrum of quality ranges that have been discovered
at the Regal Ridge emerald deposit.
Using screening techniques which isolate higher quality portions of
rough material and then completing precision cuts at calibrated
intervals down to extremely small sizes, Land C Company produced 430
faceted stones weighing 23.30 carats; 162 cabochons with a total weight
of 55.65 carats and 87 beads weighing 54.20 carats. The faceted
gemstones are primarily rounds and trilliants in the range of 2.0 to
8.0 millimetres. Cushion, oval and pear shapes measuring up to 10 by 7
millimetres were also produced. The spherical beads range in size from
3.0 to 7.0 millimetres in diameter.
Based on individual lots the range in yield from the manufacturing test
was 5.5 to 27.4 percent for faceted goods; 11.3 to 13.2 percent for
cabochons; and 9.5 to 10.2 percent for beads. These ranges exist all
well within acceptable overall yields. Further pilot production from
the 19.7 kilogram inventory of rough material acquired by True North
Gems during the 2003 mini-bulk sampling program.